Finally in Control
by Beatlemaniac1965
Summary: AU. Harry is two years older than canon and raised by Remus and Sirius. Neville is BWL. Story of Harry's time at Hogwarts and after. Snarky characters, witty humor, Quidditch, deeply developed OCs. Based on Knowledge is Power. Full summary inside.
1. Summary and Apologies

I recently came by 'Knowledge is Power' and loved it. I had read it earlier too, but had judged it through the eyes of a simple reader, not an author. Now that I have the honor, I wish to rewrite the story. I don't think I can do this story justice, what with my feeble powers of writing, but I can try.

- Harry, in this story, is two years older than he is in canon. Nobody else's age is different, as far as I know, except for Harry being born two years earlier than normal.

- The year in which Harry will start Hogwarts will be the year 2006, rather than 1990, or 1991 like it is in canon. Eventually, the story will branch out into the muggle world, it will make things more exciting and easy for me if I can write in technology I know about, instead of having to refer to wikipedia and discover what technology was around in the 90's . . .

- This does not change the fact that he, too, is a candidate to be the "child of prophecy", for if you read it carefully " the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches" does not necessarily mean they are about to be born.

- Hermione, Ron and Ginny and pretty much the rest of the Weasleys will not play as much of a main role as they do in Canon, or many other fan fictions. Yes, Harry will be in the same year as the twins, but he might not befriend them. Ron and Hermione won't come into the story until Harry's third year, due to the aging change.

- Harry is not the "Boy-who-lived".

- The prophecy will force nothing in this story. It will be as it should have been; a possibility rather than a sure thing. I hate it when people make the prophecy give Harry god-like powers or make Harry and Voldemort Invincible "it just won't happen in this story.

- Harry's strength will be believable, as in, anybody who works as hard as he does could achieve it. This is the case because he"ll be strong using magic available to everyone" he"ll just be better at it because he worked for it. Also, he can't speak Parseltongue so no Parselmagic.

- Neville Longbottom is the Boy-who-lived and his personality will be different because of it. Instead of suffering ridicule for his whole life, he has been showered with praise. He will not be evil, or mean. Just a little stupid, self-righteous and arrogant, like a young James Potter or Draco Malfoy. Neville lovers, don't be disheartened. Neville's character will undergo a change once he comes to Hogwarts. By the time he is in his seventh year, he will be exactly like he was in DH, that is, a ridiculously brave guy who doesn't lack a backbone.

- Therefore, what actually happened that night is that Riddle chose to go to the Longbottom's manor first; Wormtail is still the Potters" secret keeper, while Bella, Rodolphus, Rabastan and Wormtai went to the Potter's house instead, after Wormtail sold them out. What actually happened that night will be explained in the story.

- Ignotus Peverell is Neville's ancestor, not Harry's; the cloak belongs to Neville.

- Yes, Harry will be better in many types types of magic as compared to other wizards by the time he graduates from Hogwarts. He will never flaunt his power or use it to beat down bullies and flex his magical muscles.

- Harry's powers and abilities will be believable; no power boosting rituals that no one but him, funnily enough, performs. No multiple or magical Animagus abilities that allows him to become a phoenix/basilisk/dragon etc. No famous magical ancestors who, upon Harry's magical maturation, give him super powers. He is not related to any of the founders. Basically all the annoying shit like that won't be here.

- Harry will excel (ridiculously so) at Transfiguration, Defence against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy. All his powers will be believable, and in my opinion, make the fight scenes all the more awesome.

- Don't expect Harry to go all out for the first time until the end of his seventh year (Fifth year canon).

- Harry is an anti-hero. Many people will think he's cruel, a jerk and not a nice person. Those people will be right. Think Greg House, he's bitter about something, absolutely brilliant, and a smart-ass who doesn't care about anyone but himself " the only difference is that he does care for people he considers family, he just won't tell them.

- Harry will not be dark, evil, or light. He"ll do things his own way, not caring what anyone thinks of him when he does.

- The magical world will be expanded on in a major way. Don't be worried, much of the story will still be based in Britain

- Harry isn't a ridiculously brave or anything like that in this fic. He gets on by wit and a certain amount of manipulation. He is likely to be sorted into either Slytherin or Ravenclaw.

- Dumbledore is not evil; he genuinely does want the best for everybody. He might have done unwarranted stuff in some of the later books but it was all done for the best. Since Harry pardons him, and since I've got no truck with him, I will not portray Dumbledore as an evil man. He will be a trifle manipulative but with some excellent qualities to drown out this little bit. The best thing about him is that he has no problem with admitting his own mistakes. That, in my opinion, makes him more of a man than the rest. All in all, he will be a good man and Harry will be his protege of sorts.

- There will be OCs. Harry's best friend and the best friend's love interest will be OCs from Canon families. People usually don't like OCs because they either become Mary/Gary Sues, or die off early. I won't make promises, but tall OCs in my story will have their characters developed, even more thoroughly than some Canon characters. I also hope to make them more likable than Hermione and Ron (their personalities always rubbed me the wrong way). Remember that, at first, you may not like the OCs, but their characters will be developed and, I hope, you'll grow to love them and not even think of them as OCs later on.

- No Slash or Severitus, Nuff said.

- Harry will be paired with Fleur, eventually. I have rather unique, in my opinion, views on love and how relationships form. I don't believe in love at first sight and I'm not really good at writing fluffy scenes. However, Harry will be a bit of a playboy, as will be seen in later chapters. It is just his way of coping with the tension. Still, he will fall in love with the one girl (or veela) who will then become an obsession for him. Expect that bit of personality to be implanted into Harry's psyche "he's the kind of guy that will fall in love with one girl, and that's it. Do what you want with that information; I"ve already figured out how all pairings in my story will be formed.

- Lemons may or may not make an appearance. Definitely Limes though, as sex will be a heavily discussed subject in this story. What teenagers don't talk about it? Or, in most cases, experience it.

- The humor in this story will be the kind I find funny and the kind you would usually hear if you hang out with my friends and I. We like to rag on each other a lot, and we laugh as we do it. Sarcastic, downright slapstick at times, or even classic one-liners, these are the kinds of jokes to expect.

- Also, in terms of length, expect it to go well beyond Hogwarts. In my opinion, the story won't really start until Harry graduates. Think of Hogwarts as one huge, character building, Prologue. An interesting prologue, but one that doesn't really get into the story that much, merely goes through Canon events in a different perspective

For the readers who know this bit, please don't gape and send me e-crucios or something. I warn you, quiet a bit will be lifted from the original, but the plot and character etc. are completely my own. Please tell me what you feel. If you think that I will desecrate the masterpiece that was, I will stop writing now. Take it from me that I won't progress until I have had at least 15 reviews telling me that it is all right for me to continue. I will again repeat, my intention is not to copy what has already been written, but to rewrite it my own way. If you think I can't do it, I will delete this story.

Just give me the 15 reviews. I assure you that my updates will be super fast.


	2. An Introduction to Harry's World

Thanks for all those encouraging notes. I have decided to continue with the story but I will do it on my own terms. Some parts of this chapter have been pinched off Knowledge is Power, while the rest is of my own creation. Read and tell me what you think about it.

* * *

Remus Lupin, a sickly yet handsome looking man that looked to be in his early thirties, stood with his hands buried deeply in his tattered brown coat as he watched the football game being played out before him. He was chewing the inside of the scarf wrapped around his neck anxiously; this looked to be shaping up to be one of those "close ones" that were bad for his heart and health.

The rather cold weather was usually a good deterrent for anyone who wanted to spend their Sunday mornings outside, but for Remus, the temperature didn't matter. What mattered to him was watching his adopted charge give it his all to win his side the championship.

His charge was none other than the hero or rather, the anti hero, of our story. His name was Harry Potter. Those of you, who wonder who this Harry might be, relax. I will tell you all in good time. For now, let us sit back and watch the exciting football match.

This is what brought them to the here and now. At the age of eight, Harry had taken an interest in football and had asked to join the local team so he could play. Remus, believing that an active lifestyle would be beneficial for the boy, didn't hesitate in allowing Harry to play for Highbury United, the closest team to their home.

Harry had taken to football like fish to water. Scarcely had a day passed when Harry was not practicing it. Even while studying out of books, he could be seen fiddling with one. By fiddling, I mean doing stuff like balancing it and other tricks. Remus had shaken his head at this. Playing football was alright, but it was starting to become an obsession. He would have to think of ways of curbing it. Let's cut to the chase and bring you the match live.

Harry was playing at the right flank. It was his favorite position as he considered himself to be an expert in crossing. His coach was convinced that Harry would be better off as a center forward, but Harry would not even consider it. Right midfield was where he belonged and where he would stay. The coach reluctantly agreed.

This was the make or break match. The ninety minutes were almost over and it looked like the game was heading into extra time. These kids might have been good, but there was no way their legs could run another half an hour. The kids needed a miracle, and they were counting on Harry to deliver.

Harry received a long pass from the center back. He controlled the ball on his chest and went diagonally to the penalty box rather than going to the corner flag and delivering one of his trademark crosses. The defenders saw him run diagonally towards them and went out to reach him. They hadn't forgotten the way he had curved the free kick right past the goal keeper to equalize. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't underestimated his ability, but they had underestimated his cunning.

As soon as he saw the defenders running towards him, he started mulling over his options. There were only two, actually. Pass or score. It was how to score that was the real problem. Nevertheless, he dribbled past one defender to find two others blocking his way. Unfortunately for them, this had left the center forward unmarked. Knowing this was his chance, he backpedaled to the lip of the penalty box with the three defenders in hot pursuit. Uttering a quick prayer, he lobbed the ball over their heads.

The defender's cries of jubilation turned to wails of frustration when they turned around just in time to see the center forward airborne and in the trajectory of the ball. He had timed his jump perfectly as the ball, with a satisfying thud went past the helpless goalkeeper.

The moment of stunned silence ceased as parents, siblings and players of Highbury United alike erupted in loud cheers. The game was practically over now! That had to have been the last play! The tin ceiling of the underground area rumbled as the cheering, stamping and screaming of the onlookers shook the very foundations of the small, shed like area they were all crowded in to shield themselves from the cold.

Before Remus could understand what was going on, Janine, a single mother to one of the other boys on the team grabbed both his cheeks in a strong grip and planted a large wet kiss right on his lips that lasted for a good few seconds. If Remus wasn't so stunned by her forwardness, he probably would have opened his mouth to allow for the tongue, as things were though, he was slightly surprised, to say the least. God bless single, hot, football mothers.

Shaking out of his daze, Remus was able to see Harry running back to his position so they could kick off again, leaving his team mates behind to continue celebrating. The sight of Harry eying him from his position with an amused expression was enough to properly fluster the man.

Janine offered a lift to Remus and Harry, but the offer was met with a polite refusal. She left with her own son, looking a little crestfallen that Remus had rejected her offer. Harry observed this and made a mental note to quiz Remus. It could form the basis of a few class insults.

The first thing he did after reaching home was to locate his iPod and listen to music. Nothing made him unwind more than music did. He could just sit back and think. Think about the past, present and future. Remember days gone by and days yet to come.

He never liked thinking about that night, but his mind often drifted to the incident when he listened to music whether he wanted to or not. His parents had died that night, and moved on to the next life, but he was still alive, a fate he believed worse.

Bellatrix Lestrange. The name caused him a wave of hate washed through him. The woman, along with nineteen of her terrorist friends had attacked his home in an effort to locate their missing lord during the last great Wizarding war. The woman was a Death Eater, or rather, a servant of the Dark Lord Voldemort, who believed that one's purity of blood should dictate their status in the Wizarding world, often committing atrocities and crimes against humanity to get their point across. He didn't see the logic behind such an ideology.

His parents had been ambushed by the death eaters in their own house. Believing the threat of the Dark Lord over, they had ventured outside. They had returned to find that their house was teeming with death eaters. No one knew what happened but the corpses of the sixteen death eaters arranged around their own had explained succinctly. Only four death eaters had survived, out of whom three still remained at the site of the carnage, bound by anti apparition jinxes and the like. They had started singing as soon as the aurors showed up. The name Bellatrix Lestrange was uttered in connection to this gloomy business. She was the only one of the group who wasn't caught.

All three death eaters were apprehended and sent to the harshest prison in the Wizarding world, and even though they had failed in attempting to locate their master, they had succeeded in destroying his family. It was said that Bellatrix Lestrange was so scared of the Potters after she'd seen what they had done, she simply killed them from behind and ran away, not even willing to stop and check the house, or whatever had remained of it.

The guilt often ate away at Harry. He knew it was completely illogical, but he couldn't help it. Every breath he took, every thought he had, every experience he lived through was only allowed to come to pass because his parents sacrificed themselves for him. He was living a normal life and his parents had to pay the price for it.

His occupation with Bellatrix and his mission to avenge the death of his parents was the reason he had pressured Remus into teaching him and helping him understand his parent's school texts, his father was the reason he had Remus accelerate his learning in muggle schooling, his mother was the reason he played football and trained every week - he needed to keep fit after all.

No one but himself knew the reasons for him wanting to learn and become as powerful as he could - Remus probably suspected, but he never confirmed it. True, knowledge was power and he told Remus he thought as much, but power without a purpose was pointless. What was the point of becoming as powerful as one could be if you had no reason to utilize said power?

Harry finally cast his mind to more current affairs.

Such as the letter addressed to him sitting on his desk.

The letter had been delivered not an hour ago by a brown barn owl, signifying that it was obviously from the Wizarding world, as owls were the preferred method of mail delivery. He only needed to look at the wax seal that sealed the letter to know its purpose and who it was from.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the most prestigious school for learning magic in Europe. It was seen as a great honor in Wizarding society to be accepted to said school, but Harry didn't see it. As far as he could tell, nearly every magical child in Great Britain who was able to wield magic, even in the slightest, was accepted. Regardless, if he wanted to ever attain the freedom he required to avenge his parents, he would need to graduate from the school, and graduate well.

"Got your letter then?" a voice said from his bedroom door, causing Harry to stop listening instantly and jump slightly in surprise. He had been so lost in thought he let his uncle sneak up on him, well, it wasn't too surprising, he had been quite the prankster while at school apparently, according to his father's journals.

Harry turned to Remus with a scowl on his face. "No you idiot," came the typically sarcastic reply "it's my copy of Playwitch."

Remus let out a bark like laugh at that "So you can't get the real girls" He clucked his tongue and said, "and have to make do with flimsy paper. Poor Harry, there must be somebody who likes scrawny and ill tempered kiddies."

Harry visibly winced. "I really wish you luck with Janine. I suppose she spread her legs for you 'coz there was no one else left in the world?"

Remus didn't seem to be paying attention though. "Do you really want to go to Hogwarts? If you don't then I can home school you, you know."

Harry just shrugged "I'd much rather continue my home schooling," he said "unfortunately, the Ministry wouldn't recognize you as an official tutor, especially for someone who's an heir to a wealthy pureblood line," he finished with a shake of his head.

"Yeah, I know. Also on account of my 'furry little problem' as your father used to call it."

"That too. Tell me, I'm curious, how exactly do they sort people into different houses?"

Remus pretended to think about it. "I would love to tell you how, I really would, but I don't think I can trust you with information like that. I'm sure your teeny little head will explode."

Harry groaned. "Quit the risqué jokes. Now. They hardly become a middle aged man like you."

Remus looked affronted. "Middle aged? Me? How dare you? I'm still in the flower of my youth."

Harry laughed. "That explains why I never see you in the company of women."

"That is because I gave up my social life to care for you. I sacrificed everything for a heedless young lad like you."

Harry waved all that aside. "Lay off the topic now. We'll come back to it later. I got the results from Salem. They wish to offer me a scholarship."

At the mention of Salem, Remus turned serious. "Don't do it Harry." He said. "You know that we still don't know anything about schools in the US. Better stick to good old Great Britain."

Harry raised one eyebrow. "And?"

"And I and Sirius will need some companionship." Said Remus, looking sheepish,

"Speaking of Sirius, where is he?"

"Oh, out there somewhere."

Right on cue, a handsome man entered the room. "Somebody called the hottest man in the world?"

Harry and Remus stared at each other and said in unison. "I am right here."

Later that night Harry, Remus and Sirius had a discussion on the houses of Hogwarts. Harry learned that there were four houses in Hogwarts namely Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Gryffindor was for courageous people, Slytherin for ambitious ones, Ravenclaw for the clever ones and the rest were sent to Hufflepuff,

"I hope to see you in Gryffindor, Prongslet." Sirius was saying.

Remus interrupted him and said. "I don't think so, Sirius. I think our young friend here has more chances of getting into Ravenclaw. What say, Harry?"

Harry just gave them a bored look. "This sorting thing simply doesn't make sense. After all, you can't expect an eleven your old kid not to be ambitious. Does that mean all of us get drafted into Slytherin? And what about changes in character? You don't remain the same all throughout your life, do you? Everybody changes, sometime or the other. This thing is too melodramatic for my taste. Not to mention stereotypical and artificial. Think I'll go to bed now. Good night."

Silence met this little speech. Once Harry was out of earshot, Sirius said to Remus, "he will be in Ravenclaw. Take my word for it."

The next morning, Harry woke up a little earlier than normal. This was not because Harry was a light sleeper, but because he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, courtesy a timed spell. He looked at the watch. 4 0' clock in the morning. This was Remus's doing, he was sure of it. He swore that he would avenge this. But right now, he needed to post the Hogwarts letter.

Grabbing his still unopened Hogwarts letter, he dashed out of his room and promptly got hit by one of those timed spells. Harry quickly sidestepped an orange flash as another of Remus's timed spells zinged right past his head and into the wall behind him. Harry quickly made his way to Bartholomew's room to have his reply to Hogwarts delivered, before another spell could hit him.

Bartholomew was Remus's delivery owl. He was a fairly large and beautiful eagle owl with dark brown silk like feathers and piercing orange eyes that almost glowed in the dark when the lights were out. The room the owl specifically inhabited was the attic of the house they lived in, which was surprisingly roomy with a small window for Bartholomew to leave and arrive from. His perch was placed next to the window with a tray of water and owl treats nearby.

Once the job was finished, Harry tiptoed to Sirius's room. Stealing Sirius's wand, he cast a locomoter spell on Sirius. As an eleven year old kid, he shouldn't have been able to do this, but he had read a few first year books and knew the theory of the spell. He led the sleeping Sirius to Remus's room and deposited him on his bed. As a precautionary measure, he stole all of Remus's clothes and vanished the ones Remus and Sirius were wearing right now. He also stole Remus's wand so that he could not conjure any clothes. Having hidden all the clothes, he checked the time. It was 5 in the morning. Smiling to himself, he went back to sleep.

Only to be woken up by the sound of screaming. It seemed to emanate from Remus's room. Harry didn't bother to look, choosing to go down stairs and fix himself some breakfast. Soon enough, he could hear the sound of bare feet striking the stone floor. Having put on his best innocent face, Harry waited for the inevitable. Soon enough Sirius and Remus appeared in the dining room. The former had draped a piece of newspaper in a bid to appear somewhat decent and the latter had used his pillow to cover his bits.

"My God! You two are gay? I had been living with two homos all my life? How long has this been going on? Out with the secret, I want to know all about it. Not that it matters, you know. I have nothing against gay guys. Whatever makes you happy."

Sirius and Remus blushed even more deeply, if that was possible. "Wait till I get you back for this, Potter." Growled Sirius, "you really are asking for it. Now tell us where you have hidden our clothes and wands."

Harry was all for letting them run around trying to find their clothes, until he remembered that today he had to go and buy his Hogwarts supplies. With a sigh, he led them to the place where he had stashed their stuff. The quicker he got his wand, the better for him. Especially after the humiliating prank he had played on the two. Sirius's eyes had promised unendurable torture for him.

* * *

As you can see, Remus's reaction to Harry winning the Championship is the same as in Knowledge is Power. This is because I found that it was better than the one I had written but was much the same. Also, the football match plays an important part in the chapter because it defines the kind of Harry I am writing about. In the other fic, Harry was more or less alone. He was a genius and didn't trust anybody except himself and maybe a couple of friends. The kind of Harry I am writing about has no such reservations.

Also, many people are telling me how I'm ripping off the other fic. So, I've done two things that will kill this criticism dead.

1) Harry's parents are dead. It is his hatred of Bellatrix that drives him. The problem in Knowledge is Power (Henceforth I will call it KiP) was that Harry was trying to find a way to cure his mother by resorting to Parsel magic. And in my book, Parsel magic is a sort of super power.

2) Sirius will not be in Azkaban. The Potters had died after the charm had been lifted and so the secret keeper was not to blame. Pettigrew is in Azkaban as he was one of the three who was caught. He remains a taboo subject among the marauders.

I want reviews. Bouquets, brickbats, anything. I accept them all. My only request is, please don't compare this fic to KiP. Many people might not have liked the fact that I pinched a bit of KiP. To those people, the only thing I can say is - relax. The next chapter is entirely of my own creations. In fact, some of you might be in for a surprise.

Review it please.


	3. Diagon Alley

Hello once again. As a master of stating the obvious, I must tell you that a new chapter is up. This one is 5,000 words, so please no more petulance about 'chapters being short' etc.

There is going to be a surprise or two on the way. Get ready for it. Review it guys. Tell me what you think about it. Thanks.

* * *

Quickly opening the Hogwarts acceptance letter that was labeled "Mr. H. Potter, 13 Grimauld Place, London", he quickly skimmed through it and found exactly what he expected to be written inside:

____

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) _

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. _

_Term begins on 1 September (or when you happen to register). We await your owl by no Later then 31st of July. _

_Yours Sincerely _

_Minerva McGonagall _

_Deputy Headmistress_

Enclosed was another letter. It said -

_HOWGARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Uniform__  
First year students will require: _

_Three sets of plain work robes (black) _

_One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear _

_One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) _

_One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings) _

_Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags _

_Set Books__  
All students should have a copy of each of the following: _

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot _

_Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling _

_A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch _

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore _

_Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger _

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander _

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble _

_Other Equipment _

_1 wand _

_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) _

_1 set glass or crystal phials _

_1 telescope _

_1 set brass scales _

_Students may also bring an owl, cat or toad _

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

"No Broomsticks?" Harry re-read quietly with a frown. If he couldn't play football, he was hoping to play at least Quidditch, but it seemed he was being robbed of that too. Maybe he could get on the team in second year; he'd have to find out later. In the meantime, he'd just take his football in case he got bored.

"You just wait until I get my own wand dear Remus," Harry began "Don't think a silly ministry's underage sorcery laws will stop me from getting you back for all these years of tasteless pranks," he said with a wicked grin, Remus couldn't help the shudder that went up his spine at the sight of it. For some reason, he knew that Harry would indeed be able to make good on his threat.

"Until then, I think I will enjoy the very tasteful prank you played on a defenseless wizard like me, thank you very much! I will get you back for that. And Harry Birthday!" he said, with his grin not having wavered one bit. "Seeing as we're going to Diagon Alley today, I figured I'd give you your present there," he promised happily "this will be the first time you've actually gone to Diagon Alley personally isn't it?"

"You know it is" Harry replied with a roll of his eyes as he pulled some scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, bacon and hash browns on his plate, a growing boy had to eat!

"Master Harry, I are wishing you happy returns of the day." Said the odd little creature, with a deep bow. The creature, apart from speaking poor English, was mostly a dark green in color, roughly three feet tall, with large eyes and batty ears hanging from the top of its head. The little creature wore a toga bearing the stamp of the Black family crest and was busily at work making, what Harry assumed to be, his birthday cake.

"Thanks Kreacher" he smiled at their house elf, who actually belonged to Sirius. When Remus, Sirius and Harry had decided to take up their residence in Sirius's family manor, they had found Kreacher in the attic, starved and half mad. Sirius planned to behead the house elf and stick his head on the wall. Harry and Remus, however, had vetoed the plan. While Sirius had nothing but contempt for Kreacher, Remus and Harry treated him gently. The turning point in this precarious relationship came when Harry had the idea to give him stuff that belonged to Regulus, Sirius's younger brother.

The change that came over Kreacher was beyond belief. Overnight, he had become the perfect house elf. He started speaking courteously with everyone, cleaned the manor more thoroughly than the three had together (in his defense, Sirius said that he was too 'manly' to learn household spells). His cooking had improved too, as was evident from the appetizing odor coming from the kitchen.

"Breakfast is wonderful as usual," he complemented the little elf, causing him to bow and turn around and continue with his cooking. Kreacher was not very young for a house elf, at the age of seventy five even though they could live for hundreds of years. He had never grown used to the praise he received from his masters, being taught to expect otherwise as a child, and he most likely never would.

"Yous is too kind master Harry, but Kreacher thanks yous" he said with a smile as Remus laughed.

"Good going Harry. You will be getting all the girls in no time at all at Hogwarts, you will see. Just try to curb on that smooth 'Latin Lover' shit, alright. It ill becomes you. Not to mention the fact that it will 'attract rabid fan boys' as I call them."

His amusement was nipped in the bud when Kreacher took a running jump and hit remus on the head with a saucepan. Suffice to say that Remus was well and truly whipped. Without going into more detail, let us draw a curtain of charity over this event.

Remus parked his car at a parking lot near a pub known as "The Leaky Cauldron", the parking lot looked fairly empty, which was quite unusual, if you looked closely enough. Every other parking lot in the area was filled to the brim while this one only had, at most, thirty cars in it when it could house two hundred, at least.

Harry assumed that, given the situation, that magic was responsible for said oddity. It usually was in London and something weird or unexplainable occurred.

Not before long, after maneuvering through the busy London day-time streets, they ended up in front of a dingy looking tavern that everyone, save for a few random, oddly dressed people, seemed to completely ignore. The tavern was the one they had come for, the Leaky Cauldron, and it looked like it had seen better days.

"After you Harry," Remus urged him "just go right through the tavern and head right on out to the back. Were probably not the only people heading there, so you can follow someone else," doing as he said, Harry pushed open the door to see a surprisingly busy tavern littered with all sorts of people - there were a few shady individuals seated in the corner of the tavern talking amongst themselves, three hags laughing at what he assumed to be an extremely funny joke, and mostly, Wizards and Witches having lunch or just passing through.

As Remus had guessed, there was a child his age being led by his parents to the back of the pub, so, ignoring everything else around him and looking back quickly to see if Remus was still following him, Harry allowed them to lead him through the pub and out of a door only to find himself outside again, in a dead-end alley facing a brick wall.

Sensing Harry's question, Remus motioned to the father of the family before them who took out his wand and tapped a seemingly random series of stones on the wall. For a few moments, nothing at all happened until, in a vertical line going down the middle of the supposed dead-end wall, the bricks began to collapse on themselves outwards and horizontally revealing an archway of sorts.

If he thought the Leaky Cauldron looked busy, that was nothing compared to the Alley before him that was bustling with activity. Off to the right of the entrance they used, there were small booths that people were popping into before going into the alley themselves, most likely as an alternative to the way they entered.

"In the future, we'll apparate in like those people are," Remus promised him "but I figured you'd want to enter it from the Leaky Cauldron for the first time like everyone else. I remember doing this myself and how amazed I was at the sight of a busy Diagon Alley," narrated Remus as they headed down the alley towards a magnificent, tall white building. Harry just nodded in thanks as he looked at some of the stores they passed by on the way, the main one which caught his eye was "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC".

He also passed some Apothecary with a sign saying "Sale on Grindylow Slime, 17 sickles a pound" with a weirdly dressed, even for a witch, old woman smiling at people walking by her shop with a large toothless smile. She'd probably get more customers if she stayed in her shop instead of scaring people off before they even entered like she did.

Further down the alley, he passed a store that had all sorts of people crowding around it looking at the latest racing brooms and Quidditch supplies. Most of the children seemed to be looking on, with stars in their eyes, at the magical photos of Quidditch stars performing various aerial tricks and acrobatics on their brooms. The one on display at the moment was Albert Shearer, the legendary English Seeker. The man looked to be Remus's age, if not slightly older, with a gruff, if somewhat jovial appearance with short balding hair.

"Where are we going first Remus?" asked Harry, trying not to sound like a kid in a candy store, though Remus still seemed to think his behavior amusing.

"Relax Harry, we'll get your wand soon," the man assured him with an amused chuckle, "but first, we need to get some galleons from your trust fund to pay for all your supplies."

Harry nodded, he knew Remus didn't like using his trust fund to purchase his supplies, but with Remus' health condition and all, being a werewolf, it wasn't exactly easy to find a job or to earn money in the Wizarding Britain. The magical world scorned him for something he couldn't control, and the muggle world would not appreciate him having to take off three days a month to rest after his transformations. Werewolves had it worst than most, it seemed.

Another store that they passed by on their way to the Wizarding bank Gringotts was "Flourish and Blotts" which was swarming with soon to be Hogwarts students getting their required texts for the year. The store was the place everybody went to for their standard "Ministry approved" reading materials, being one of the only shops in Diagon Alley that had a selection as large and vast as their own. However, Remus had told him that if one wanted to find books on more obscure and advanced subjects, the shady Knockturn Alley was where you wanted to go. Knockturn Alley was the kind of place most parents warded their children from by scaring them with stories of dark and evil creatures prowling there in the night, ready to strike. Harry often scoffed at that idea, the only dangerous thing in Knockturn Alley were the hookers - dirty slags, the lot of them. They'd do it with a troll if they paid them enough.

Finally, they came to a stop before a large pearly white building near the intersection of Diagon and Knockturn Alley that towered over the rest of the buildings as far as the eye could see. As they neared the entrance, it was clear that the front doors seemed to be made of solid bronze and looked immensely heavy, however, that wasn't what caught Harry's eye, it was the two armored Goblins standing guard outside the bank in gold, and gem studded armor holding large, vicious looking pikes, looking as menacing as possible. It worked quite well as a deterrent to any thieves looking to steal from what the Goblins held within their coffers.

They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, Goblins standing guard outside the bank in gold, and gem studded armor holding large, vicious looking pikes, looking as menacing as possible. It worked quite well as a deterrent to any thieves looking to steal from what the Goblins held within their coffers.

"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Remus quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry and looked really intimidating.

He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

Wondering briefly what the message meant by "finding more than treasure" down in the bowels of Gringotts, Harry was escorted inside by Remus. When they entered, Harry found himself in a large room with marble floors and numerous elevated counters manned by Goblins, serving wizards and witches with their banking needs. As the two lined up at the counter with the smallest line, Harry looked around some more to see several pathways leading away from the main room, no doubt leading to the many vaults and employee offices.

The Goblins themselves seemed to interest Harry as well, and not because of their looks or the fact that they were Goblins either. Harry found their attitude to be extremely amusing, bordering on aggressive but definitely rude, the Goblins made it their mission to sneer at every single witch or wizard that they served, perhaps just to let them know that while they are serving them, they didn't like it one bit.

Actually, now that he thought of it, he couldn't really tell if they were sneering or smiling, their razor sharp teeth, long clawed fingers and large domed heads making for a pretty intimidating image. No wonder most of the patrons would look away uneasily when they so much as looked at them with their coal black eyes, making sure to let their pointy teeth show.

Finally, it was their turn to be served and as the two approached the Goblin's desk. Harry was surprised to see that the Goblin didn't sneer at them immediately, or he didn't think so, they were very confusing.

"How may we help you today sir?" asked the Goblin, seemingly ignoring Harry and addressing Remus alone with something akin to respect, it seemed.

"Good afternoon mister Riphook" Remus greeted after reading the Goblin's name from the plaque on desk "We would like to withdraw funds from Mister Harry Potter's trust vault, if that wouldn't be too much trouble" he asked politely.

The Goblin, finally realizing that Harry was indeed present, peered down over its glasses right into Harry's eyes with a frown on its face then back at Remus - the look seemed to convey the Goblin's question of "what the hell are you doing with him?" but Remus decided to ignore it. With a sigh, the Goblin nodded and wrote something down before continuing.

"Does Mister Potter have his key?" the Goblin asked in a resigned matter. Harry figured his presence was as much tolerated as every other wizard's presence in the bank, not very well.

With a nod, Remus fished out a gold plated key from his pocket - no doubt much more impressive looking then your regular vault key due to the Potters being an ancient pureblood family - and handed it over to the Goblin to inspect. Riphook looked it over for a few moments, checking to see if it was a valid Gringotts key, he assumed, before nodding and motioning the two of them to a Goblin that stood over to the side of the hall waiting with a group of five other witches and wizards.

When they arrived, the goblin seemed to do a head count before leading them all together down a tunnel, Harry figured that they would take them down in groups, otherwise it would be quite time consuming getting around beneath Gringotts and to everyone's vaults. It was a well known fact that the tunnels below Gringotts that led to the several thousand vaults under their protection stretched all over underground Great Britain, so it was most likely they would send people off in groups according to where their vaults were located.

At the end of the tunnel, they reached a platform housing several oversized carts with level controls on the inside hooked up to a railway.

"All aboard," the goblin said with a sarcastic sneer in his voice which Harry and Remus both grinned at. As soon as they all got on, the door of the cart closed behind them, immediately, the cart lurched forward at impressive speeds through a long series of twisting and turning tunnels. The speed which they were traveling, and the resulting wind blowing harshly into their faces as a result of it, caused Remus' eyes to water. Harry's eyes were protected from such things due to his seeing glasses; the rectangular frames were always seen on his face, for it was seemingly a Potter curse apparently to forever have poor vision; his father had poor vision, and his father's father had it too, now that he thought about it, he probably should discover a magical way to permanently keep them attached to his face, until he removed them himself, a thought for another time perhaps.

Finally, the cart stopped to allow one of the families access to their vaults, and even though most of the others on the cart attempted to peer in to see the contents of the vault, Harry didn't much care, he'd seen galleons before and he thought it rude to intrude like that. That didn't mean he didn't find it amusing when the Goblin would smack his cane against their shins for peering into someone else's vault, and glaring at them.

After several more stops, the cart stopped outside of vault nine hundred and seventy three.

"Come on Harry, this is your vault" Remus said, getting his attention as he'd been looking over the edge of the cart the whole time. Stepping off the edge, they approached the door and handed the key to the vault to the Goblin leading them through the tunnels only to have him insert and turn it to unlock the large door with the sound of several locking mechanisms coming undone as he did so.

The vault door swung open to let Harry see the piles of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts within, the sheer amount causing several people in their cart to try and fail to stifle their gasps. With an indifferent shrug, Harry went in and quickly took out a special money pouch which held more than it physically seemed possible before placing several hundred Galleons, Sickles and Knuts within, the amount of which would last him for a while.

Once he had finished with his task, he exited his vault and nodded to the Goblin to indicate his work was completed, before mounting the cart once again. It took around fifteen minutes for the last family to be done with their business before they finally arrived at a busier looking Gringotts main hall once again.

"I'd suggest we get something to eat seeing that it's already lunch time. . ." Remus suggested casually, grinning as Harry glared, hard, at him, "but I guess we can get your wand so you can stop glaring at me like a spoilt five year old child," he finished with a chuckle, only to yelp in pain when Harry kicked him in the shin.

"Why you …" but it was too late, Harry was already scurrying off towards Ollivanders leaving an irritated Remus in his wake was forced to follow his charge's trail.

As soon as Harry entered the stall, there was a tinkle of a bell from above indicating to whoever owned the store that they had a customer. Surprisingly enough, the small dusty stall was empty currently, despite all the children his age outside running around getting supplies. Oh well, he wasn't going to complain, it just meant he could get his wand sooner.

"Mr. Potter, I remember the day your parents came in for their wands like it was yesterday," a voice said from behind him, startling him somewhat. Spinning on his heel, he turned to see what he thought to be the Wizarding version of Albert Einstein peering at him through his spectacles with interest, "Yes, yes, mahogany and 11 inches, pliable, excellent for transfiguration, your father's wand was. . . and Lily Evans, your mother, 10¼ inches, willow, swishy, good for charms work. Both very good wands, I assume you're here to get yours too then?"

Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow "No, I thought I'd come for the view, as marvelous as it is," Harry replied sarcastically, causing Ollivander to chuckle.

"Cheeky, just like your father was, well then, this way, which is your wand arm then?" asked the wand maker, pulling a tape measure out of his pocket and allowing it to float mid air as it took the most obscure, and in his opinion, pointless measurements imaginable. Harry just wanted his wand as quickly as possible, so he went with it, not caring either way.

"I'm right handed," Harry answered, but he got the feeling that Ollivander wasn't listening as he had just dismissed the answer and went out back to bring out a few boxes, of what he correctly assumed, held wands.

"Try this first, 11 inches, Dragon Heartstring, robust and good for defense charms," he said, handing him a char grey wand which immediately, upon having contact with it, sent a chill down his spine.

"Nope, not that one," Ollivander said, snatching the wand right out of his hand and returning it to its box, "try this one, 11¼ inches, Unicorn hair core from a rather arrogant male unicorn, good for finesse and skilled spell casting," he explained, handing the wand to Harry. Harry, however, was clearly not listening. Adopting a battle stance, he twirled his wand at an invisible enemy. The result left him speechless.

The wall in front of the three disintegrated entirely. All that was left of it was dust and plaster. Ollivander raised his eyebrow at this display of magic. "Very good, Mr. Potter. Such a display of magic is rare. Usually I would compliment the wand, but it is the wand that chooses the wizard, of course. We must expect you to become a great wizard."

Harry stared at him. This was the first time, any one save Remus and Sirius had told him that he was going to be great. Swallowing his trepidation, he asked the wand maker, "sorry sir, but how can you tell whether I will be a great wizard or not? Won't that depend upon whether I practice or listen in class or stuff like that? How can a wand tell you this?"

Mr. Ollivander sighed. He threw Harry a long shrewd look. After a moment's silence, he said. "Mr. Potter, you display remarkable wisdom for one so young. It is true that you cannot predict accurately whether a wizard will actually become great or not. You might recall that I never said you 'will' do great things. I said that I 'expect' you to do great things. In wand lore, Mr. Potter, we have an interesting axiom- 'like attracts like'. By observing the qualities of the creature whose essence is imbibed in the wand, I can tell the qualities the wand's owner will possess. For example, a Hungarian Horntail is relatively weaker as compared to a Swedish Short Snout but a lot more cunning. Ergo, we can say that a Hungarian Horntail heartstring wand will find an owner more cunning than a Swedish Short Snout heartstring one. There are notable exceptions, of course, but this is the general rule of thumb."

Harry smiled at Mr. Ollivander. "So what was the owner of the hair in my wand like?"

Mr. Ollivander grinned in response. "I think I've told you that he was very arrogant. Very smart too, particularly fine he was. Very strong too, nearly took my eye out. What else…. yes and he was the leader of the unicorns. So what does that make you? Powerful, handsome, arrogant, Minister for Magic…"

Harry laughed and said, "Powerful and arrogant and handsome is alright. Leave out the Minister for Magic bit please."

"Alright. Anything else I can interest you gentlemen in?"

Remus stepped in at this point. "Actually, it's the lad's birthday, I think I'll buy a Dragon hide wrist holster with the standard anti-summoning charms, given what you've told us about the wand, it will no doubt come in handy," Ollivander's eyes twinkled merrily before going out back and bringing out a stylish black wrist holster that looked to be made out of leather, which is what Dragon Hide is often confused with.

"That will be twenty galleons good sir, and happy birthday Mister Potter," Harry nodded appreciatively at Remus and Ollivander, accepting the wrist holster. He put it on under his cardigan sleeve, allowing Ollivander to show him how it worked. With a simple flick of the wrist, the holster magically placed the wand in his hand from its resting place, and vice-versa.

Thanking the wand maker, Harry and Remus left the store to have some lunch before continuing their shopping.

After lunch, Harry and Remus went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and purchased a set of plain black school robes, a set of white shirts, a black cardigan, a scarf, slacks and several ties for school. They currently had no house logo on it; the seamstress informed him that the castle would deal with that little detail after he was sorted.

The next few stops consisted of him stocking up on his potions ingredients at an Apothecary that smelt so bad that his eyes watered from the stench of the combined ingredients. He definitely appreciated the art that was potion's making, but he could never really find any joy with working with some of the most disgusting ingredients on the planet, despite knowing that it was a necessity.

He also stopped at the Astronomy store to purchase a top of the line telescope for his star gazing activities at school. The telescope had several different settings that allowed him to gaze further than any regular muggle telescope could hope to see, there was even a function that mapped out constellations and drew them for you as you gazed through the eyepiece.

Their final stop together was at Flourish and Blotts, which Remus was worried about, and it turned out he had a right to be. After purchasing all the books required by the first years, Harry went on to buy the whole lot of second year books as well. When Remus pointed out that Harry hadn't the time to read all the books he had bought, Harry calmed him down by telling him that he did not intend to read all the books. He would only progress to the second year books if he had finished with the first year set. Remus seemed mollified by this and wasted no time on chaperoning his young charge back towards the pub called 'Leaky Cauldron'.

Harry whined petulantly all the way. Most uncharacteristic of him. "I'm hungry Remus, where do we go to eat?"

"We'll just apparate back to Grimauld place, Harry. It won't require more than five minutes."

* * *

Notice anything different? Yeah, you didn't think I would give Harry some 'Unbeatable Wand', did you?

Oh, and don't tell me about that house elf speech thing. 'we is' and 'I are'. My personal joke.

Anyway, review it guys. Please.


	4. On the Way to Hogwarts

Another chapter up (obviously). This one is 3500 words but PLEASE DON'T KILL ME. I'll do better next time, I promise. So, Harry finally sets of to Hogwarts to make his own future. As an answer to some of you reviews,

1)Toni, could you be a little more coherent ? And

2)Alby1, if you don't like it, don't read it. If you want to criticise, do it constructively like some of the others.

Read on guys. And don't forget to tell me how you feel.

* * *

Harry woke up early on September the first. Knowing that there might be any number of things that might be left out in spite of double checking and triple checking the trunk, he wanted to make sure once again that he had packed everything he needed, at least for the time being. Once he had made sure of this, he took a bath and then went down for breakfast.

The month before the starting of Hogwarts was one of the best of Harry's life. He had submitted himself into an orgy of fun along with his godfather Sirius. Remus disapproved of this but Sirius put his foot down on this matter. He said that Harry needed all to put up with the 'trauma' of going to Hogwarts. Harry privately disagreed but didn't say anything to Sirius.

King's Cross Station during the morning was probably one of the most busiest places in all of London, which was proved when Remus and Harry arrived at said station only to be met dozens of families, people heading off to work, muggle school children and regular citizens running around and rushing to their respective trains.

Harry had never had a reason to go to King's Cross personally, so this was his first visit to the famous train station, which would explain his awed and wary state of mind as he and Remus approached. He never was one for crowds.

Sirius did not go inside with Remus and Harry, preferring to stay in the car. It could have been nothing, but Harry felt that it had a lot to do with him. For the first time in nearly a decade, Remus and Sirius would be alone. Maybe Remus dealt with it better, maybe Sirius was just sulky. Whatever the reason, Harry and Remus, entered King's Cross Station alone.

"Harry, stick close to me until we get to Platform 9¾ okay?" Remus asked with a kind smile, understanding his adopted charge's discomfort. Harry nodded and grabbed onto the back of Remus's coat allowing himself to be led through the crowd at King's Cross as they passed families that Harry was sure were magical also.

Finally, Harry and Remus arrived at Platform 10, a platform that was coincidently devoid of any muggles.

"Harry, what you need to do is run into the wall right there," Remus indicated the brick wall before them "It's an illusionary wall that you can walk right through; Platform 9¾ is on the other side," explained the brown haired man.

Harry nodded and was about to walk through before Remus put a hand on his shoulder "It's best to run through the first time, it can feel a little weird."

Shrugging, Harry started at a jog and ran at the wall -

Only to slam head first into a solid brick wall.

Remus was howling with laughter while Harry was clutching his forehead in pain.

"It's the wall on the other side of the platform isn't it?" Harry asked rhetorically.

Remus couldn't answer, he was laughing too hard.

Harry nodded and walked through the wall he just saw another family disappear through on the other side of the platform. Why had he believed Remus so easily? Was it because the number 9¾ closer to 10 then 9 and thus would be the wall closer to platform 10 and not 9, like he was walking towards now?

His first mistake, he realized, was trying to put logic to anything in the Wizarding world.

Rule number one of the Wizarding world was to never try to apply logic to the Wizarding world.

Harry clinched his fists and was about to deliver a sucker punch to the testicles when he recalled the prank he had played last month on Remus and Sirius. "Maybe I deserved that." Harry grudgingly admitted. "But beware, my supply of pranks hasn't ceased. I'm the son of a marauder after all. All I need is a bit of time."

Remus simply yawned. "Thanks for that. I will do my best to become paranoid."

"You ought to, my dear Remus. All pranking requires is a little imagination, flair and disregard for rules."

Remus smiled at that. "You know Harry," he said, "maybe that is why Sirius and I like you so much. You resemble your father so much, it's scary. I remember him making such a statement in fifth year, almost word for word."

"Thanks for that, Remus. Is there anything else, or should I board the train?"

Remus looked around. There was no sight of the train. "Let the train come… oh, there it is."

The train rolled in a moment after he had started speaking. Harry looked interestedly at it, having never seen it before.

"So that's the Hogwarts Express huh?" Harry asked rhetorically as he pointed to a large red and gold steam train accepting passengers before it took off in half an hour.

"Yep, wonderful isn't it?"

Harry just snorted, "Hardly, it's rather an eyesore, let me guess, the headmaster was an avid Gryffindor," Harry replied, not waiting for an answer as they both knew very well that Albus Dumbledore was indeed a Gryffindor in his youth.

However many centuries ago that was, what - being one hundred and sixty something years old.

Remus just chuckled "Oh well, I guess this is it huh?" Remus said, failing at sounding cheerful, this will mark the first time since Harry could remember that he will be away from the werewolf for so long.

"You don't know how much this means to me Harry," an emotional Remus said, still hugging the boy tightly. "You're a good kid, you know that?"

Harry snorted and tried to pry Remus off of him. "Yep. One who proves that his two guardians are in the middle of a passionate and all consuming relationship," he trailed off with a smirk as Remus let out a bark of laughter.

"You be good okay, and I guess you'll be coming home for Christmas no doubt?" Harry nodded his head in affirmative.

Without further ado, he turned his back on Remus and stepped into the train. After he had boarded the train, he looked back to see that Remus had already retraced his steps back towards the platform wall. He cut a sad figure, lonely and dejected, and Harry's heart went out to him.

Once on the train, Harry walked down the corridor of the train, going from cart to cart until he found and empty compartment. Seeing as it was almost time for the express to depart, he didn't end up finding a compartment until somewhere towards the back of the train, forcing him to weave around all sorts of students, young and old, on the way.

The compartment he chose to sit in already had one occupant within, a boy, who had dark brown hair, pale skin and high cheekbones, giving him an aristocratic look. He looked at Harry as he entered the train compartment.

"You don't mind if I take a seat do you?" asked Harry as he opened the door after knocking politely, "Everywhere else is rather full."

The boy nodded his head. That was all Harry needed. Depositing his trunk on one of the seats, he proceeded to settle himself down on the seat next to the window. For a long time, neither Harry nor the boy said anything. They both were absorbed in looking out of the window and observing the normal people A.K.A muggles go about their own jobs.

After about half an hour, the boy spoke up. "My name is Archades Montague. What is yours?"

Harry was impressed. "So you are the heir to the Montague fortune?" He asked

For those of you unfamiliar with the wizarding world, a little bit of background story wouldn't hurt. The Montagues were some of the richest wizards in the world. A pureblood line, the Montagues could trace their family history back to the Crusades. No doubt Harry was impressed by all this but Archades only shrugged his shoulders. "It's just a name," he said, "and I have done nothing to earn it. So, to be honest, there is nothing to be impressed about. By the way, I told you my name, what's yours?"

"Harry Potter," Harry introduced with a nod as he shifted slightly in his seat.

Archades looked at Harry with confusion, wondering if he had done something to earn the "silent treatment" Harry was giving them. Shrugging it off, he resumed the activity he was pursuing, looking out of the window.

Harry, on the other hand, was completely focused on a certain scene transpiring outside of the train. The scene wasn't spectacular or noteworthy in particular, but he couldn't help looking on with a strange sense of longing and jealousy. He was sure that even if he wanted to, he couldn't pry his eyes away from the scene.

He was looking at a rather young looking mother and father seeing their child off at the platform, the mother fussing over the child by fixing his hair and cleaning off any imaginary dirt on his face and the father ruffling his son's hair playfully and affectionately. He knew he shouldn't be jealous, people had, of course, had it much worse off then he did, and Remus and Sirius were wonderful guardians"

He couldn't help it though, it was like a reminder of what his purpose at Hogwarts was staring right at him with arrows and lights flashing and pointing in its direction. It may seem crazy, a kid out to destroy one of the most dangerous wizards ever, but Harry knew the risks and the reward. Most children have no clue what their aim in life is. Many don't find out until they go to the wrong place while others simply ignore it and hide their heads in the sand. Harry's purpose was crystal clear. It was how to achieve the purpose that was the problem.

The train had been traveling for five hours of the estimated eight hour journey and the sun was beginning to set in the horizon. The image of the lush greens of the Scottish countryside being painted orange and red by the sunset was definitely something Harry would admit to finding a beautiful sight.

What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.

Clearly, in spite of being in the magical world for nearly a decade, Harry still had a lot to learn about it. He quizzed Archades about the various types of sweets. Archades was amused to learn that Harry had never had any wizard sweets. Harry conjectured that it was probably due to football training that Remus had never given Harry any wizard sweets.

"And what pray, tell is football?" Asked Archades

So Harry was off, explaining the various rules of football. How it was played with twenty-two players, that is, eleven per team and one ball. Archades seemed to be interested, asking many questions about the game and famous players and stuff like that. Harry even showed Archades his football and his football boots, commonly known as studs. While he was examining the ball, Harry explained various rules and also some trivia. Archades promised to try the game in Hogwarts with Harry.

"So, what house do you think you'll be in Harry?" Archades asked Harry during a lull in their conversation about football.

"Doesn't matter," Harry said with a shrug, "as long as I can learn about magic, I don't much care what house I'm in," he trailed off, not even looking at the people he was speaking to as he spoke; he'd much rather keep his eyes set on the beautiful countryside that was rapidly passing them by.

"Definitely a Ravenclaw then," Archades said with a nod, seemingly sure of himself. "No prior prejudices about any of the houses and a will to learn, I bet you'll be a Raven. My family has always been Slytherin so I'll probably end up there," he said, skillfully diverting the attention from where he wanted to go.

Unbeknownst, two kids had entered their compartment and were eavesdropping on their conversation about the various houses of Hogwarts. The two started speaking among themselves.

"Brother of mine, I think them boy is crazy."

"I am going to have to agree with you Gred; I don't think we would prank him ever again if we want to keep out bits. That idiot boy, he wants to go to Slytherin. What an idiot."

"Too right, old chap"

Harry and Archades looked at each other for a moment and then at the twins with upraised eyebrows. As it were, the twins had lost interest in Archades's statement and were involved in some sort of meaningless banter. Meaningless to Harry and Archades, that is. Not that they cared.

"What should we do next do you think Feorge?"

"We could steal all the chocolate frogs and let them loose on the train."

"Or we could throw dung bombs in the toilets."

"Or we could magically tie Charlie's show laces together."

"Oh, that is just devious brother of mine"

"Why thank you old chap"

Harry and Archades were watching the exchange between the two boys like a tennis match. Before they were about to leave their compartment as quickly as they barged in, they turned around revealing pale skin and freckled faces.

"Thanks for not snitching us out, I'm Fred…"

- "and I'm George Weasley" they introduced themselves with huge grins.

Immediately, as soon as they left, Archades snorted and said, "what losers."

Harry chuckled at the slight. He warmed up to the Montague boy. He reminded him of Sirius. Not to mention the fact that he loved football.

The Hogwarts express finally stopped at Hogsmeade, a village on the outskirts of Hogwarts itself that, according to 'Hogwarts: A History', was visitable by third years and above during the school year with parent permission.

Hogsmeade station was so dark that even when the students got off the train, they could barely see more then ten feet in any direction. The cold Scotland air also assaulted Harry's senses as soon as he stopped off the train and leaving the warming charms of the express behind.

Eventually, after the first years waited by themselves for a while as they watched the older students walk off in the direction where some carriages were, a large bobbing light started coming form the opposite direction.

"Firs' years, Firs' years, this way please," yelled a booming voice over the sea of first years. The huge man had to be over ten feet tall with a huge bushy beard and beady eyes while wearing a large haggard coat.

"Come on Firs' years, my name's Rubeus Hagrid, but everybody calls me Hagrid, follow me up te the castle now, its cold out," he said, turning around and motioning for them to follow him. "Try te keep up now, no fallin' be'ind"

The path they were lead on was narrow, cold and even darker then back at the station. If it weren't for Arcchades standing directly in front of him, he was sure he'd probably walk off the patch. The crunching of dry leaves could be heard after every step they took but Harry could honestly see no trees of shrubbery, merely blackness, the back of Archades's head and Hagrid's lantern.

Eventually, Hagrid stopped walking and turned a corner in the forest they seemed to be in to reveal the most beautiful sight Harry had ever seen. They currently stood before a huge black lake that seemed perfectly silent and still, on the other side of the lake however was a huge cliff with a large castle with many tower sand torrents illuminated from within letting the windows glitter like stars. The night sky above the castle with the half full moon gazing down at it bathed it in an ethereal light which made everything look surreal and incredibly, magical. Harry now realized why they took first years this way instead of with the rest.

"No more'n four to a boat. All righ' everyone, four to a boat, no funny business ya hear?" The huge man warned with his thick accent indicating to the dozens of wooden boats lined up at the lake's shore.

Archades, a girl, Harry and another handsome looking boy with light brown hair and rosy cheeks boarded the boat closest to them and jumped slightly in surprise as the boat took off on its own when they were all safely on. The boy that boarded with them, according to Archades conversation with him, was named Cedric Diggory and he was just as nervous as apparently Archades was about going to Hogwarts too.

Harry watched with amazement as huge tentacles broke the surface of the lake and waved about in the air amidst the shocked gasps and frightened shrieks as if welcoming them to the school.

"Tha's just Betsy the Giant Squid, she won't 'urt you unless you 'urt her first - wonderful beast she is," he commented, sounding almost wistful to Harry's amusement. He idly wondered if the two should get a room before shivering at the disgusting mental picture that thought provided.

They eventually reached the cliff side that the castle was residing on revealing a dimly lit cave going into the cliff. The quartet on the boat had to duck their heads slightly so they wouldn't bonk their heads it was that low, but not painfully so. The boats all docked within the cave by a sturdy looking pier that was no doubt being held up and strong by some sort of magic so it wouldn't wear away and collapse.

Hagrid then led them up a large flight of stairs that eventually lead out to a large grassy clearing. Across the clearing, merely a few hundred feet from them seemed to be the front gates of Hogwarts and up close, she looked even more imposing and magical.

Hagrid led them across the gassy clearing to the large wooden door and knocked three times with his huge hand so that someone would open up. Eventually, a stoic looking black haired witch opened the door for Hagrid and looked at them coolly.

"Here's the firs' years Professor McGonagall ma'am," presented Hagrid proudly to which the woman responded with a small smile and nod in thanks.

"Children, welcome to Hogwarts."

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For the rest of you guys who have read it AND reviewd it, thanks a lot. For those of you who read it but didn't review it, remember that I write to gain appreciation of my fellow human beings. If you didn't review it, I will conclude that you didn't like it and so I will stop writing. This is a legitimate threat, remember.

Also, I have a new poll up and running. Please do vote. For the ones who are scared that my fic will become a 'readers choice' or something like that, don't worry. In the end, I will decide what happens.

Best


	5. The Sorting

Another chapter up. This one is about 6,000 words. Nothing much to say except 'read on and review.'

As for those guys calling me shit like 'attention whore', is that even supposed to make sense? I mean, how does begging for reviews make me a 'bad author' and an 'attention whore'? Just asking.

Also, since I am writing this story, I have a right to demand reviews. I got 40 reviews for Chapter 1, and 20-25 each for the rest. Those kinds of statistics make a fellow nervous. That is why I was asking for reviews.

I have also updated the first chapter, the 'Summary' one. I have edited it to tie a few loose threads and also to tell the newbies where this fic is going.

* * *

Harry, Archie and Cedric all stood in a small room within Hogwarts waiting to be called into the great hall so they could be sorted. McGonagall had told them all to smarten up a bit before the sorting. Since Harry, Archades and Cedric were already as well groomed as they could be, they started talking football once again.

Harry and probably most of the other first years were also able to see their very first ghost as the Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron, floated into the room they were waiting in and just glared at them all for a while silently with slightly intimidating eyes. The blood stains on his ghostly white outfit were commented to "probably" be apple sauce by some naive girl waiting with them in the room.

Harry, Archades and Cedric cut strange figures in the entrance hall. While everybody was busy shivering in terror, Harry used the time to instruct Cedric in the art of football. Cedric seemed very interested so Harry kept on talking about it. Quite a bit of time elapsed this way and the rest of the batch started staring at the little group. Archades, who had started feeling self-conscious, tried to break the discussion by asking the only question he could think of -

"Do you have any idea how we get sorted?"

Cedric seemed to find this amusing as he just offered a chuckle. Possibly, he had guessed why Archades had asked the question. Shaking his head, he replied, "I asked my father before we boarded the Hogwarts express about how we get sorted; he said that it's a secret and that nobody going to Hogwarts for their first time should know how."

The twins, who had been eavesdropping, interrupted at this point. It was sad to note that the eavesdropping thing was becoming some sort of habit.

"You know what Forge? Methinks this sorting thing will involve trolls."

The other twin now spoke up. "No Gred. Methinks it will involve dragons."

- "or goblins."

- "or dwarves."

- "or cockatrice."

Here, Harry put his foot down. "Are you guys dumber than you look? No, seriously, are you crazy? Stop trying to scare the rest of the kids here. For one, none of us knows a lot of magic, so creatures like dragons and trolls are definitely out. As far as dwarves and goblins are concerned, wizards are not on a good enough footing with either of the two races, so that is definitely out. And don't kid yourselves. You speak as if facing a dragon is a piece of cake. Believe me it is not. I don't care how they sort us into houses. If other wizards got through unblemished, so can I."

Silence met this speech. The rest of the kids stared at Harry, who had gone back to discussing football with Cedric. Finally Archades spoke up. "So what is your estimation?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Some sort of personality evaluation test. It makes more sense than fighting a dragon."

Archades wasn't convinced. "I'm not convinced," he said. "It can't be all that simple. It must be something else."

Harry was quick to retort. "Well, that's why you're a moron. Bet you 10 galleons they do some sort of test thing using magical objects." he countered.

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Professor McGonagall. "I hope you are ready, children. The others await you in the great hall. There, you will be sorted into houses. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

Maybe it was Harry's imagination, but it seemed as if McGonagall was directing these words exclusively towards him. Remus and Sirius had told him that his father was one of McGonagall's favorite students, being exceptional in transfiguration. Maybe she expected him to inherit his father's genes? Or maybe she was gauging whether he was made up of sterner stuff than his father was. Harry promised to prove this conjecture right on both counts.

The great hall as massive with a ceiling charmed to show the night sky instead of a painted ceiling. There were four long tables placed vertically along the hall with a large and elevated horizontally placed table that the teachers were sitting on looking down at the first years at the opposite end of the hall. The other four tabled seemed littered in seas of green, yellow, red and blue showing clearly that each house sat separately at one of the four tables. The hall itself was illuminated by several lit candles spelled to float independently that all shone their light onto the students and teachers below like stars in the night sky.

Harry finished his observations and looked to the other first years, who, seemed to all be in shock and awe by the hall and its decorations. Looking up at the head table, Harry noticed several recognizable figures; one of those was the giant of a man Hagrid that had picked them up from the train station at Hogsmeade. Another recognizable figure was the very short elderly wizard recognizable from a lot of his Charms books as Filius Flitwick. The man was somewhat of an idol for him, being a former dueling champion and one of the world's most renowned charms masters. However, probably one of the most recognizable figures seated at the head table looking down upon everyone in the hall from the headmaster's chair was Albus Dumbledore; the man looked to be the very picture of what one would expect Merlin to look like with long silver hair with a matching silver bear. He also seemed to favor bright and eccentric clothing, especially if the light blue shiny silk robe covering his purple undergarments was anything to go by.

Professor McGonagall walked through another door into the great hall holding an old looking brown wizards hat and a rickety looking stool, both of which were placed at the head of the hall - the hat on the stool - before she pulled out a rolled up scroll form her sleeve.

Harry was slightly surprised when there was a slight coughing noise coming form the hat, as if it were clearing its throat, before the creases in the material contorted to that of a face of sorts. Harry learned to take everything in the Wizarding world with a grain of salt, it was much easier that way so he wouldn't constantly be getting surprised by things other people would deem normal, but even a singing hat was fairly weird for the Wizarding world.

_Oh you may not think me pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,__  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be. _

_You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
you'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends. _

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

Everyone in the hall applauded politely at the conclusion of the song. Harry looked over to Archie, who grudgingly handed him 10 Galleons. Meanwhile, McGonagall had started reading out names from the list,

"Asmoedius, Gareth," called out McGonagall from the now unrolled sheet of parchment. A boy with light brown hair and grey eyes scurried forward as everyone in the hall had his eyes set on him. McGonagall with a thin lipped smile motioned him towards the chair where he sat down and placed the overly large hat on his head, allowing it to engulf his head whole. There were several moments of silence before the hat spoke up for the hall to hear.

"Hufflepuff!" the table that was the second from the right erupted with cheers as the boy's robes magically changed to match the Hufflepuff colors of black and yellow. The boy scurried over to the table and took a seat with his fellow housemates while McGonagall called forth the next person.

"Diggory, Cedric," McGonagall eventually called, catching Harry's attention, the boy seemed great and he seemed to have already made friends with Archades, so he listened in.

"Hufflepuff!" Cedric took the hat off and blushed in embarrassment when the hall cheered for him before moving over to his table and sitting beside Gareth, the first boy sorted.

Harry zoned out as he looked around the hall some more, taking in the details of the still foreign room. Just as he was wondering how hungry he was, another familiar name was called out.

"Montague, Archades," with large, proud steps, Archie strode up to the chair and put the hat on his head. Harry watched the boy's facial expressions intently when he noticed the grin slip only to be replaced by his lips thinning, a look that almost looked out of place on the boy's features. After a long while, the longest yet out of all the students, the hat made its decision.

"Ravenclaw!" Harry smiled to himself. Though he wouldn't have bet on it, it was possible that his new friend and he would be in the same house.

"Potter, Harry," McGonagall called out as Harry walked down the isle between the two tables and took his seat on the stool before McGonagall placed the sorting hat on his head.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. You are brave but don't believe in blasting your way in. So you are not uncommonly brave, you believe in thinking things through or manipulating others into doing things for you. Very Slytherin of you, Mister Potter. You do not believe in hard work and are loyal only to your closest of friends. This is interesting as it puts us in a bit of a situation. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are definitely out. So it is either Slytherin or Ravenclaw, so where shall I put you?" Harry, who was sitting calmly on the stool thought, _I don't care_. "You really don't, do you?" mused the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that… well, still I suppose I wouldn't want to kill the Slytherins by giving them a master manipulator and you hold knowledge and intelligence in the highest regard, better be -"

"Ravenclaw!" the hat called to the hall, getting an applause and sighs of relief from most of the hall, Harry's sorting had taken the longest by far and people were extremely hungry. Harry looked down to his robes that still kept their black color mainly but also gained the blue and bronze colors of Ravenclaw as well as the crest with the eagle on his breast. Taking his seat by his fellow housemates who welcomed him, Harry tuned out Archades who was now talking to him animatedly while people were still getting sorted.

Harry idly heard a few names that he recognized getting sorted after his own; Weasley, Pucey and Rookwood being some examples. Finally, when the sorting was over, the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"Welcome students - new and old - to another year of learning magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" he greeted amidst the silence of the hall. "Before we begin with the feast," he trailed off amidst the groans of protests from hungry students, "a few quick announcements are in order. As you know, Mr. Thicknesse can no longer be your Defense professor due to wanting to seek a career within the ministry of magic, so your new Defense against the Dark Arts professor will be Professor Robards, who has served as an Auror for the ministry of magic for the past twenty years - please make him feel welcome."

There was a polite applause for the new professor who stood from his seat a few seats down from Dumbledore. The man had the look of a battle hardened warrior who had survived through a war with his greying hair and muscular features.

"As always, the Forbidden forest is just that; Forbidden, any students caught out of bounds will be given an instant detention with our resident caretaker, Mr. Filch," he commented, motioning to a scraggy and cruel looking man with long dirty hair and a grey cat by his side.

"Aside from that, I don't wish to hold you from your meals much longer, so enjoy!" he announced, and with a clap, the tables were instantly filled with a banquet of food, easily more then every student could eat, appearing before them. The food ranged from chicken, corn, bread, soups, steak, mashed potatoes, peas and other sorts of vegetables and pitchers of Pumpkin juice. The sight of all the still steaming dishes almost made Harry drool in delight; he hadn't realized how hungry he was until just then.

Harry piled his plate for as much food as he thought he could eat and dug in while looking around at the other first years that had been placed into Ravenclaw along with him. One of them was a black haired boy by the name of Roger Davis who was currently chatting to one of the first year girls, Rachel Pennyworth, a rather bubbly yet intelligent looking blonde haired girl. Beside the two sat a shy girl who seemed to be just listening in on other's conversations, he remembered her to be Rhona Simmonds, a girl with light brown hair and rosy cheeks. Beside Archades were two other boys Harry couldn't remember the names of as well as Anthony Silvers, who boasted about preferring the name "Tony".

Harry shrugged and continued to eat, feeling oddly amused with Archades's current mood as he moped while eating his meal. Harry was just pleased that no one sought to start a conversation with him as they were much too busy chatting amongst themselves; he just wanted to eat dinner in peace.

All too soon, the tables were cleared of all food and any golden cutlery that was left over, signifying the end of the feast, Dumbledore stood once again, to address the entire hall.

"I'm sure you all enjoyed that meal, now if you will, follow your house prefects back to your house common rooms - first years should pay attention to where you're going to avoid getting lost in the future, this castle has a habit of doing that to people," he exclaimed with a twinkle in his eye "And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

And the school bellowed:

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot._

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Immediately, the students filed out of the hall. The first year Ravenclaws were led away to the western wing of the castle by the fifth year Ravenclaw prefects. On their way, they passed numerous moving portraits that waved to them politely and left some remarks as they passed - one rather bubbly portrait of a girl and her family winked and giggled at him as he passed, commenting on how cute he was, despite his embarrassment as it just seemed to draw attention to him.

Eventually, they arrived at Ravenclaw tower, which Harry noticed was conveniently close to the library, where they stopped in front of a door with no keyhole or handle, merely a bronze eagle door knocker that seemed to be alive.

"Before you gain entrance, first you must answer me this." before the eagle door knocker continued, the prefect explained.

"Ravenclaw is a house that values intelligence, creativity, wisdom and wit, to gain entry into your common room you will need to answer a riddle or intellectual question, if you cannot answer, you will not gain entry" explained the boy before the girl spoke up.

"Don't worry, you get used to it" she said with a smile "if you don't get it, ask someone else to help you do it, or even Professor Flitwick, our head of house, if you can't find someone - his office is just down the hall.

The door knocker then felt it was time to pose its question "What is so fragile that when you speak its name you break it?" the bronze eagle knocker asked. Both of the fifth year prefects seemed to know the answer but they turned to the first years, expecting an answer.

"You guys will need to be answering these questions too, if you want to gain entry into your common room, does anybody know?"

There was silence amongst the first years - who looked to be in deep contemplation - taking this as a 'right of passage' kind of test to prove themselves to the older members of their house. Harry, who was just tired and wanted some sleep, rolled his eyes. "I suck at these riddles," he confided to Archie.

Archie simply rolled his eyes. "The answer is silence," he answered from the back of the group. Instantly, the students all turned to look at him with a questioning look in their eyes, but the fifth years just smiled brightly at him. Harry made a mental note never to step out of the common room without Archie. He really didn't feel like asking for help from Professor Flitwick.

"You may enter," the door knocker stated before swinging open and allowing them entrance.

Harry pushed passed his first year peers who were still looking at him and got his first glimpse of the Ravenclaw common room. The room could be best described as an "airy" room with many arched windows overlooking the surrounding mountains, all hung with heavy bronze and blue curtains, matching their house colors. The ceiling is domed and painted blue with twinkling stars on it. The floor is also covered by midnight-blue carpet, completing the "Ravenclaw" look about the place. The room was filled with fat and cushy armchairs that looked quite comfortable to just sit at and read a book. The room also seemed to be circular in shape, showing that it was indeed on the inside of the Ravenclaw tower while there were several stairs leading up to the student dorms. There is a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw beside the entrance to the dorm, one of the Hogwarts four founder and the founder of the Ravenclaw house.

"Wow." was all Harry could say, in his opinion, the room was perfect. There was even a small library if you wanted a quick read and didn't want to go to the library.

"Wow indeed," the fifth year prefect said from beside him with a grin.

"The first year dorms are up those stairs, girl on the left, boys on the right," he said, motioning to the stairs on the other side of the room. "The second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh are further up into the corridors and dorms respectively," the prefect said with a smile.

"Try not to disturb the older students by making noise please," she said with a smile. "Especially the fifth and seventh year students who are studying for their OWLs and NEWTs respectively, it is a very important year for them. If you want to make noise and have fun, you can come down to the common room if no one is studying here or someplace else in the castle," she explained with a smile.

"Also, as Ravenclaw students, we pride ourselves on being the most intelligent and studious of all the other houses at Hogwarts," the prefect said with pride. "So, once a week, there is a mandatory study group for all first through fourth year students held by fifth year students, it helps you learn and helps the fifth years revise for their OWL exams. Later on in your life at Hogwarts, there will be similar mandatory study sessions for fifth and sixth years to be held by seventh years for the same reason," the prefect explained. Every first year there nodded in understanding.

"Your study sessions will be held on Wednesday nights before your Astronomy classes, if for some reason, you can't make it, please inform a prefect or Professor Flitwick, so we know you aren't slacking."

"Do any of you have any questions?" asked the male prefect, Harry liked the two and understood why they made the prefect position. They seemed to be very nice and approachable.

"Err - will we get in trouble if we um - aren't as smart as you expect us to be?" asked a nervous first year girl.

The prefect smiled and shook his head. "You are in here for a reason, which means you must be intelligent, witty, creative, or have a thirst for knowledge. No one expects you to ace everything, but it is expected that you want to learn and try your hardest with your studies, difficult or not." that answer seemed to placate the nervous girl as she smile shyly.

"When will we get our class timetables?" asked Harry, wanting to know what schedule he'll have to work around so he can begin his education.

"You'll receive them during breakfast on Monday morning, so be sure to be bright and early so you can come back here and collect the necessary materials you'll need for your classes, whatever they may be." Harry nodded in satisfaction. It was Saturday now, so that meant they had tomorrow off, he figured he could use the time to explore the castle.

Seeing as there were no more questions, the prefects lead them to their dorm rooms, as they split up to head to the different gender rooms. Apparently, no boy could enter the girls rooms but the girls could enter the boys, that thought frightened Harry slightly, hadn't these incompetent wizards heard of female perverts? Obviously, they've never had fan girls, he thought with a shiver as he remembered the times he showered after football practice and the number of times the younger girls tried to peep on him.

Their dorm room was simple and oddly enough, had the perfect number of beds for the amount of first year Ravenclaw boy students. Each bed had a canopy that allowed them to drape their own blue curtain around the bed for privacy as well as large and comfortable blue and bronze pillows and blankets. There were also two large windows showing them a beautiful view of the surrounding snowy mountains and, much to Harry's delight, a desk beside each of the beds with a small bookshelf mounted on the wall above each desk. As every boy claimed a bed as their own, Harry took the one closest to one of the windows.

Archie took his large school trunk from the middle of the room and hauled it over to the bed next to Harry's.

"Hey Harry, how do you like this place?" asked the curious boy, not loud enough to get the other's attention though. Harry merely looked at the canopy of his bed, thinking about all that had happened today.

"I like this place, real homely and stuff. It is also kind of 'cool' as you say, you know. Being with people like ourselves, who have a thirst for knowledge and have made it their life's work… I'm not boring you, am I?"

"No, of course not. I perfectly understand your feelings. I feel the same way too. It's just that, I think I'll get screwed by my dad."

Harry looked at Archades and said, "What? Your dad still believes in that pureblood shit?"

"No. I guess not, but you never can tell, can you?"

"No you can't. Look man, I'm really dead beat, we'll speak about this later."

"Night Harry, you wanna go look around the castle tomorrow?"

Harry nodded, "Sure, why not? Night"

Harry went to sleep, ignoring the chatting of his housemates wondering what tomorrow would bring.

Harry awoke early the next morning as the sun's rays peeked over the mountain and shone in his face through the window of the first year boy's dorms. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he looked around for his glasses and used them to see the time, it was still only six in the morning and his roommates were still asleep. Deciding to get an early start to the day, Harry grabbed a pair of jeans, shirt, jumper and a fresh pair of underwear and headed into the showers to get ready for the day.

Coming out of the shower room, he was surprised to see that he had spent an hour getting ready; he figured he must have spent longer then he thought. Grabbing a scarf after noticing how cold it looked outside, Harry headed down to the great hall to eat his breakfast, trying to remember the way to get there from his trip to his common room yesterday. One the way, he passed a poltergeist that tried to ambush him with dung bombs which he easily avoided, years spent growing up with Remus gave him quite the "prank" sense.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, curiously, eying the fuming poltergeist floating before him.

"I am Peeves the Poltergeist, Potty Potter and you may have won this round, but I will get you next time!" it shrieked as it floated around the corner and away at high speeds.

Finally smelling the effects of the Dung bombs hitting the floor, Harry sped away, not wanting to have the smell stick to him. Taking out his wand, he aimed it at himself before using a charm that Remus had taught him before coming, a rather simple one that removes foul and foreign odors from the body, "A good one for a prankster to know," he had said.

"_Refovio_."

Instantly, he felt a blanket of magic cover the surface of his body head to toe, it felt like he was being softly tickled, before the sensation stopped. Raising his arm cautiously to take a whiff, he smelt himself to notice that he smelt like - nothing.

Harry frowned before realizing something "It must remove all good and bad foreign fragrances from the body."

Shrugging, thinking that it was better then smelling bad, he continued on his way to the great hall, passing several students conversing in the hallways on the way of different years and houses. He found though, that he didn't pass very many Slytherins. He figured that maybe because their common room was located in the Dungeons, they may just stick to their own area.

Entering the great hall, he looked around to see the Ravenclaw table being the most full, yet none of the first years, boys or girls, seemed to be up yet. Scanning the room some more, his eyes landed on Rachel Pennyworth, who was also sitting by herself at the Ravenclaw table and eating her breakfast.

Shrugging mentally, Harry moved over to sit beside her and eat breakfast. A few of the students, especially the other first years, started pointing towards him and Rachel and giggling and whispering. Harry didn't give a damn. These things didn't bother him.

"Good morning Rachel," he greeted, making the girl turn her head sharply to him before calming down.

"Morning Harry, what are you doing over here?" she asked her face neutral as she ate her jammed toast that was currently sitting on her plate. Harry followed her example and took an apple to start his breakfast.

"No one from Ravenclaw is awake yet, You're the only person I recognized in the hall" he said with a shrug, as he took another bite of the apple in his hand, idly thinking that it was probably the best apple he had ever tasted - a perfect combination of crunchy and juicy.

"I see, so, how do you find the house?" she asked, trying to start up some conversation. Harry shrugged again as he continued to eat his apple, he had just noticed how many stares he was getting by sitting at this table so he swiveled around in his stool and leaned against the table while still sitting next to Rachel.

"The common room is nice and the view from the boys dormitory is magnificent. What about you?" he asked, curious to how the other first year Ravenclaws felt about their boarding and lodging.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang coming from the door, both Harry and Rachel looked up to see Archades strolling into the great hall whistling merrily. The boy stopped and scanned the hall, Harry wasn't sure whether he was looking for him or Cedric, but apparently he was looking for Harry because the moment he spotted him, he sent a salute in his direction and sat down in between Rachel and Harry.

"When you guys are done with breakfast, you wanna go look around the castle?" asked Archades. Noticing Rachel, he quickly added, "you can come too, if you like, Rachel."

Rachel excused herself and proceeded to eat breakfast in silence with Archades and Harry. Their meal was interrupted only by the arrival of Cedric. Archades hailed Cedric and invited him to join the Ravenclaw table, an offer Cedric gratefully accepted. After fifteen minutes spent watching Archie and Cedric shovel down their food, Harry suggested that they had eaten enough and should start exploring the castle.

Harry had, surprisingly to the group, suggested they map out their different classrooms, less they get lost tomorrow and not be able to find their way between each of them. So after they found the Potions classroom in the dungeons, the Transfiguration classroom near Gryffindor tower, the Charms classroom near the Ravenclaw tower and the Library, the Defense Against the Dark Arts class on the seventh floor and the greenhouse just outside on the grounds.

By the time they were done exploring, it was lunch time so the four of them headed back to the great hall to eat lunch. Harry, however, stopped before the entered the door.

"I'll take a raincheck on lunch, I'm just going to walk around for a bit" he said, and without waiting for an answer, he left to his dorm. Harry had, to be honest, an urge to play with his football, so after arriving back at his dorm, having to answer another riddle to gain entrance, he removed the ball form his trunk and went out to the grounds.

Harry received many confused glances when people saw him walking around with a football under his arm, but he just ignored them and headed out towards the large lake outside the castle; he remembered seeing a nice clearing near there that would be fine for what he wanted.

Arriving at the clearing, Harry tossed the ball to the ground and started dribbling invisible opponents for a while before kicking the ball up into the air and juggling. He may not be able to play football anymore, but that was no reason to let his skills go rusty by stopping completely. He was greeted with cheers when he tried to do a simple step over. Looking back, he saw the Weasley twins, a tall guy with dreadlocks, Archie and Cedric hiding behind some trees.

"You know, if you were going to play football, you should have told us, I love playing" Cedric said with a grin.

"How do you play?" asked Archades.

"We want to learn too, Harry. This game seems like a lot of fun. Mind teaching us?" asked one of the twins.

Harry smiled to himself. Maybe bringing his football to Hogwarts wasn't such a bad idea after all. "Right-o, fellas. Let me instruct you in the beautiful and noble art of football."

Harry spent the rest of the afternoon explaining the various rules of football to the twins, Cedric, Archie and Lee Jordan. Once Harry and Archie returned to their common room, Harry decided to write a letter to Sirius and Remus.

_Dear Sirius and Remus,_

_What's up guys? I'm fine out here. Got into Ravenclaw. Didn't meet your 'arch nemesis' Snape. Can't be so sure, but I think he is alright. Not as bad as you made it out to be. Not much to write about, everything is pretty good out here. How are you two doing? Is everything fine back home? Do write and tell me, losers. That is all for now. I'm planning a typical Marauder prank to get back our (I consider myself one of the Marauders) 'lost treasure', the one you told me about. More to come later…_

_Best,_

_Harry_

Harry read the letter once to see if he had put everything he needed. He hoped that his two guardians would understand what "lost treasure' meant. Even if they hadn't, he would gloat about it when he went home for Christmas. Right now, he had an appointment with Mister Filch.

* * *

No mistakes, I hope? If there are, just tell me. Also, forgive me for making Harry sound American. I just can't get a hang of these Brit words and stuff. Must be something to do with all the SAT words moving around in my head.

Please review it guys, please. Tell me how you feel. Good, bad or ugly.

More to come...


	6. Another Small Break

I'm back with a vengeance! Goin' nowhere now, guys. Tested your patience enough, I have. I'll outline the next two-three years of Harry's life, answer a few questions, make a few things clear, and get on with the plot, as it were.

* * *

Year one (complete): The usual. Snape is terrible. Flitwick, McGonagall discover great potential in Harry. Slowly but surely Archades Montague becomes his best (and only) friend. By friend I mean a sort of confidant. Otherwise he joined quite a few students for pranks. Oh, and he starts work on the plan to get the Marauder's map, HIS Marauder's map back from Argus Filch.

Year two: Again, the same. Lather, rinse, repeat. More of Harry's 'lone wolf' character seen. Tries out for chaser and beater in the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and gets the position for both. A few more pranks, and now Harry's magical prowess really starts to blossom. Nothing even remotely Godly, mind you. His magical strength is nothing compared to Voldemort's or Dumbledore's. He is still a lot more powerful than the 'canon' Harry. Actually, he is more of a sort of Hermione, though unarguably with more talent and skill than normal rote memorization from books. He is brilliant in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration, outstanding in Charms, Astronomy, Herbology and Potions and decent in History of Magic. He also gets into the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

Year three: Now we're getting close. The 'golden trio' i.e. Longbottom, Granger and Weasley make an entrance. This is also where I pick up the story.

Now many people have said that all I've done so far is copy the real fic, Knowledge is Power. You know what? I agree. But, but, but… hear me out.

1) Up till now, I had very little to do. As you very well know, Harry doesn't do much till his third year in 'Knowledge is Power'. I admit that all I've done till now is remove the (as they look to me) offending bits and add a bit of window dressing. I'm pleased with the result though, I'll admit it freely, and I think I'm doing a copy and paste job too. Up till now. Not anymore.

2) I have taken a long long hiatus. Not by choice, but due to circumstances. Matured a bit and all that. I don't know if my writing skills are as good, but I'll damn well try. Over the past ten-eleven months I tried to take up the MS Word to write but I couldn't find the right words. Finally, I decided to just ditch the first two years and move on to the bits where the action is. Rather scummy of me but I think you'll agree that boring fics make for less readers and that a bored writer writes boring fics.

3) This is when my fic really starts diverging from 'Knowledge is Power'. Granted that many scenes will be the same ('cause I like the scenes) but the character reactions will be different, depending on where my characters are going right now.

4) Many people have told me that my writing is not good because Harry reacts to a similar situation in different kind of ways. For example, he might call Archades as 'Archades' or 'Archie' depending on his mood. For another, he will either admonish other people for playing pranks but then go out and do it himself. The fact is that this is the exact situation I wanted to create. Readers are confused as to whether Harry is the typical 'I don't give a damn' rebel, or a considerate but sarcastic guy, or a habitual prankster or whatever the hell else. The fact is that Harry is the son of the (supposed) considerate and caring firebrand Lily and the arrogant, easygoing, laidback James. He has been raised by the (equally) arrogant and laidback Sirius and the studious, responsible, but still mischievious Remus. Consequently, Harry displays all the characteristics in turn. He can be caring, laidback, arrogant, meddlesome etc.

Not to worry, Harry's true character will emerge. It will be a mix of all these but with some characteristics of his own.

5) Neville is not arrogant or evil or anything of that sort. I kind of like Neville and don't think he is fit to be slaughtered like they do in some Longbottom bashing fics. The fact is that Neville has led a very sheltered life, under the shadow of his hard to please and extremely strict grandmother. The result is a lot like the Neville of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. He is meek and timid, given to some outbursts of bravery and daredevilry. He is not great shakes at magic, but he has a gift for Herbology (like in canon'). Reclusive and polite, he cannot come to terms with the kind of fame the adulating crowd bestows on him, for doing something he can't remember and losing his parents in the process. The 'fame' part is a lot like canonical Harry of the first book.

6) Dumbledore is a bit of an enigma. He is genuinely fond of Harry, but he can't make Harry out. Caught between Potter and Longbottom, the headmaster knows that time is running out and that he must make a decision as to whom he considers the child of the prophecy (the 'Chosen One'). This is complicated by his utter disregard for Divination and a lingering suspicion towards the subject. I love Dumbledore as well, so he won't be as manipulative as he is made out to be (thanks for OotP, Ms. Rowling).

7) Stephanie fans do not worry. She'll make an entrance sooner rather than later.

* * *

Now that all this is taken care of, I need my masses of adoring fans to answer a couple of questions via review. Your insights will help, so please, please, please do reply.

Q1. What do you think about Harry having a girlfriend before Fleur (who is only a 'sort of' girlfriend anyway)? Do you think it will ruin Harry's character image?

Q2. Harry – Chaser or Beater? Both sound appetizing to me, so please give me your opinion as well.

I'll start the next chapter as soon as I get enough reviews with the answer to these questions. Ciao for now.


	7. Year 5 Goes By

Was bored, nothing much to do. New chapter. Please do review

* * *

The quidditch match was the final for the season. Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor.

"Now guys I know this is tough, but this is like gambler paradise. It's all or nothing today. You win, you win big. You lose, you're history. We win, we get the Quidditch Cup and the House Cup. So no pressure, fellas."

Having said this in his best authoritarian manner, the Ravenclaw captain winked and walked off.

"So much for a fucking inspirational speech" Harry whispered into the cute blonde's ear. The girl giggled shyly and blushed. Harry shot her a wicked smile. He had been flirting with Josephine for quite some time. Looking at the two of them Davies (the Ravenclaw captain) cleared his throat noisily. "Look Harry, I know it has been a cakewalk for you. You have annihilated all our opponents three years in a row but that doesn't mean they cannot come back and bite you in the ass." Seeing that he had the whole team's attention, Davies spoke out loud for the rest of the team to hear. "You guys are the best," he said. "But the best don't always win. We have made it a habit to win each and every match, to perform best when under pressure. Let's hope this trend continues."

Harry rolled his eyes. He knew he was better than anybody in Hogwarts, one of the best Hogwarts had ever produced. However, he was not arrogant about it. He knew that talent counted for just this much. Hard work and brains were more important. Not to mention luck. Squeezing Josephine's hand (he hadn't even seen that coming, she just wrapped her hand around his when he had zoned out), he took a deep breath and made his way to the pitch. The ever present Lee Jordan's voice greeted the two teams.

"And here comes the Ravenclaw team with their captain Roger Davies. Ravenclaw team has been in top form throughout the season and not just this season but for the last three years ever since their chaser and star player Harry Potter got on their team! Wow the Hufflepuffs do have a lot of ground to cover if they are to win this match!"

Even through the roar of the crowd Harry could hear Professor McGonagall telling Lee off. Lee had sort of fallen in love with the Ravenclaw team ever since they had humiliated Slytherins 300-10 and Harry had scored 8 goals by himself. Harry brutally evicted that thought from his mind. Time enough to reminisce later. For now, concentrate.

The quaffle was thrown up by Madam Hooch and Harry immediately took possession of it. Harry wasted no time in moving to the flanks and flying the entire length of the Quidditch pitch before moving sideways and getting near the leftmost ring. Dodging a bludger reflexively, he positioned himself to score. The Hufflepuff keeper obviously thought that Harry would go for a kill and shot straight towards him. He didn't notice an elusive figure in blue waiting on the right flank. Moments before the keeper would have snatched the ball, Harry threw it to Josephine who had nothing much to do except throw the quaffle into the unguarded ring.

"Ravenclaw scores!" Lee yelled, barely able to contain his excitement. "What a brilliant set up by Potter! Damn that kid can fly."

Harry rolled his eyes. Lee got too carried away sometimes.

Play resumed again and this time Harry let the Hufflepuff chaser get control of the quaffle. _It was all part of the plan _he reminded himself. All part of the plan. Rather than flying towards the chaser to unsettle him and get control of the quaffle Harry sneakily made his way towards the Hufflepuff goal. The hufflepuff keeper was too busy egging his mates on to notice. Harry had enough faith in Roger and Josephine's defensive abilities but he still felt a tinge of nervousness. This was his plan and it better work.

Rather than trying to gain possession of the quaffle, the Ravenclaw chasers were content to tail the Hufflepuff chaser who was flying straight towards the Ravenclaw goal and for a one versus on against the keeper. However at the supreme moment when almost all was lost, Josephine picked up speed to match the Hufflepuff chasers'. Roger meanwhile dove straight for the other two Hufflepuff chasers. For a second all was chaos but when the dust settled it was Josephine who threw the quaffle all the way across the field for Harry to coolly finish into an empty goal (the Hufflepuff keeper was almost at the halfway line, seeing no danger and sure of a Hufflepuff score). Harry mentally blocked of all the noise and savored the feeling that can only come when you completely outsmart your opponent.

_Josephine is the quickest chaser on the field except me. Roger is the strongest. Draw the Hufflepuff players in, Josephine steals the quaffle while Roger keeps the other two chasers busy. A long throw to me for a cool finish. Hit them at the counter, as my soccer coach would say._

This basically described the whole game, even though Cedric caught the snitch. It ended 400-310 with Harry scoring seven and setting up nine and picking up the player of the match. Ravenclaw won the House championship as well as the Quidditch Cup. It had been a good day but it was about to get better.

Harry was in the changing rooms, looking fondly at his quidditch robes. 'Potter' it said on the back with a giant '8' underneath it. _Gerrard wears an 8, so does Lampard, so does Iniesta, so does Kaka', Hristo Stoichkov wore it for Bulgaria, Xavi wears it for Spain, Nasri wears it for Arsenal. _He was so consumed by his thoughts that he didn't hear the footsteps. He heard a feminine chuckle and turned around to see Josephine looking amusedly at him.

"Zoned out again?" She asked him.

"Story of my life," Harry shot back. Josephine took her time to settle down next to Harry. Very close.

"There is a party in the Common Room, but I was wondering if you might want to do something more… enjoyable," she whispered, her words leaving nothing to imagination. Harry shrugged. The parties were rubbish, no alcohol and he was fifteen, a hormonal teenager. Josephine's offer was much better. He took all of five seconds to think it out.

"My room in fifteen minutes," he said and left after her acquiescence.

* * *

Start of summer. Always wonderful; especially when you are visited by quarter veelas who are on important 'assignments'

"So Ms. Delacour," Harry started.

"Fleur," the gorgeous quarter veela replied. "What is your answer?"

Harry rubbed his eyes in frustration. Why was this girl so hostile? For God's sake! He hadn't even made a pass at her. He resumed his discourse.

"I should probably accept this proposal and perhaps I would if I didn't love England more. By the way your father is a generous man, Fleur."

"How so?" a still belligerent Fleur Delacour asked the chaser half the international teams were trying to attract before the World Cup. Wordlessly Harry passed the letter from the magical head of France and Fleur's father. It said:

_Dear Mr. Potter_

_I will not waste words as I know your time is precious. Many countries are trying to attract you to play for them internationally, which is not unnatural seeing the stupendous amount of talent you have on the Quidditch pitch and your youth which means that you still don't need citizenship to play internationally for any team of your choice._

_I know that you have been practicing this past year with the England squad but my advisers tell me that they can change the French style of play if need be. I hardly need to remind you that French Internationals receive the highest pay among all the International teams. The player wages are on par with the club level salaries most superstars command._

_Of course if you accept I will give up my daughter Fleur (who I sent the letter with) as your personal chaperone. She can be trying at times but she has a good heart, not to mention that she will be at your __service__ at all times if you accept. I can confidently say that no other International players, not even the French team have such __extra privileges__._

_Signed_

_Minister for Magic, France_

Fleur's face grew angrier as she went through the letter. Then the penny dropped. "Do you mean…"

"Yeah," Harry relied nonchalantly. "He offered you to me if I join."

"Bastard!" She screamed and stormed out. Watching her Harry wondered if he should have asked her out rather than showing her the letter. That girl looked so much hotter with her murderous stare.

"Who was that?" A freshly awoken Archie asked him.

"A stupendously hot chick I should have asked out," Harry absently replied.

A few days after that Archie came to Harry again. Nothing unusual about it, they were best friends after all. "Have you ever heard me talk about Stephanie Zabini?" He asked Harry with a besotted look in his eyes.

Harry sighed. He rather wished he had not heard Archie talk about Stephanie. That bastard talked about Stephanie all the time! He seemed to breathe Stephanie, eat Stephanie, live Stephanie. "What is it Archades?" he asked. "This better be good."

"Oh it is," the young potions genius replied. "She is sending me a letter today about how many seats she requires for the World Cup. You don't mind getting seats do you?" He asked Harry.

"Just tell me how many seats and shut the fuck up about Stephy-poo already."

The letter arrived later that day. Harry took a seat on the bottom step of the stairs of Grimmauld Place, waiting for Archie to read the letter; he wouldn't be going anywhere until he was done anyway.

Several minutes passed and Archie still hadn't spoken. His back was to him and he seemed to be clutching the letter rather tightly.

"Will you hurry up Archades?" Harry sighed irritably, "Just tell me how many tickets she wants."

Archie turned around a bit too quickly for his liking; something was wrong, that much was obvious.

"Well. Stephanie asked for four tickets, is that okay?" even Harry could tell the smile plastered on his face was a ridiculously fake one.

"There's enough room," Harry nodded, "is there a problem? I didn't expect so many though but that's fine."

"Oh, you know her roommate Fleur? Well, apparently she has a little sister who is a diehard Harry Potter, err, Quidditch fan, and she really wants to go," he joked feebly, "So those two will be coming, as well as."

Harry raised a brow as Archie trailed off, looking at the letter as if it were the obituaries.

"It's okay if you can't read the letter Archades, just sound out the syllables, it shouldn't be too hard."

"She's bringing her boyfriend, Harry," Archie said in a quiet voice, "it says she wants a ticket for her boyfriend, Fleur and her little sister."

"Huh," Harry mused quietly, thinking more on the issue then he would ever let Archie know. "Well, sucks to be you," he shrugged, "four tickets it is."

He completely forgot to ask about Fleur.

Ever since he knew Archie, Harry had to endure his constant fantasizing and love for Stephanie. It was a good thing that she didn't go to the same school otherwise Harry was sure Archie would have attacked her or something without meaning to. That guy was pure obsessed with Stephanie. The Zabinis had been good to Archie. He had run away to them when his mom died and he looked upon the Zabinis as his own parents, while the Zabinis considered him their son. And now seeing Stephanie dating some other guy was the last straw for Archie. Archie rarely ever left his room for anything, and that included food. Cedric (who joined Harry and Archie for the vacations) would usually bring up leftovers so the boy wouldn't starve himself to death. In fact, Sirius and Remus realized that he was becoming very hermit like, almost like Harry whenever he was on holidays.

When Sirius had realized this and tried to pull him out of his funk - giving him the whole "there are more fish in the sea" speech - he quickly realized that by simply being in his presence, his own mood darkened as well.

The only positive was that Stephanie, along with the Zabinis, and her guests were due to arrive at the end of the week so they could go to the game together. Harry had secured them a twenty person magical tent for everyone who was sitting in his box to watch the game.

The stadium was designed to hold two hundred thousand people and had twenty private boxes to hold the families and friends of the players and important political figures. Harry had reserved one of the boxes for himself, as did every other English player. Everyone coming to watch was assured first-class treatment, five-class meals, free beverages, and luxurious surroundings as they watched the intense game.

Harry himself had to go to the stadium a week before the match was set to begin, as Bulgaria (their opponents) and England would share the pitch for daily training sessions before the match. Everyone else would arrive at their own pace during that week as two hundred thousand people all heading to one location was kind of hard to hide from the muggles.

Sirius, Remus (back from America for the holidays) and Cedric were swapping tales when there was a knock on the door. Sirius went to answer, allowing the entrance of some people he had never seen before, but by the way they were dressed and the composition of their group, he had a fair idea of who they were.

"Say Cedric," Sirius whispered to the boy, "is that the girl Archie is moping over?"

"Huh?" he swiveled around to see where Sirius was pointing to see a familiar, if slightly more mature and beautiful face. "Oh, yeah that's Stephanie," he raised his voice, "Stephanie, over here!"

* * *

Note: Cedric had seen Stephanie before. Being a pureblood, I assume that all purebloods knew each other having come in contact during social events etc. Harry being half blood hadn't. Older wizards didn't know much about the younger purebloods so Sirius's unawareness is acceptable.

* * *

Cedric didn't fail to notice how the girl's hand was interlaced with the handsome boy's. He also noticed the stunningly beautiful blond haired girl by her side and her midget copy. The girl exuded an aura that made it seem like every other girl in the room was insignificant.

Cedric tried and failed miserably to stop ogling the blond haired French girl who looked at her surroundings with disdain, seemingly not approving of the inn.

"Hello Cedric," the girl greeted with a voice that held only a slight French accent, "Where's Archie, I figured he'd be hanging around, or ready to do something to embarrass me," she shook her head fondly, not really meaning anything harmful by her words. Stephanie missed the dark look that crossed Cedric's features, though the blond girl did not.

"He's busy," Cedric replied distractedly. "This is Sirius Black, by the way, he's Harry's Godfather."

"So you're the one Archie talks so highly of in his letters," Stephanie smiled. "I'm sorry for what happened to you, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he accepted her outstretched hand, "Who are these three?"

"Oh, how rude of me," she pointed to the tall beauty to her right, "this is Fleur Delacour and her little sister Gabrielle." She then motioned to the handsome and somewhat snobbish looking boy with a smile, "and this is my boyfriend Jacques Philippe."

"A pleasure," Cedric said with a smile. "Would you care to join us? We were just having lunch."

The group sat in the booth alongside the two boys, Fleur and Jacques a little more reluctantly than Gabrielle, who seemed to be fascinated with the food on Cedric's plate.

"What are you reading?" Stephanie asked as she motioned to the paper still held in Cedric's hands.

"Oh, it's Harry's OWL results," Cedric handed it back to Sirius, "I don't think he'd appreciate it if I just showed it to just anyone though, sorry."

"Nonsense," Sirius grinned, "You can look, he did great don't you think?"

Stephanie accepted the piece of parchment from Sirius and read it with the same amount of shock Cedric did. She then handed it to Fleur with a smug grin; "See?" she sounded amused. "You thought Harry was like another Krum, "the lights are on, but nobody is home" I believe you said," she joked. "I believe this says differently."

Fleur tried to look unimpressed, but the brief widening of her eyes as she read through Harry's scores said a whole other story.

"Where is this Archades you speak so much about?" Fleur changed the subject and asked her friend in French. "The way you speak of him would say that he'd be rather happy to see you, no?" she frowned. "He mustn't be too enthusiastic if he has yet to greet you. I thought you said he liked you, did he not?"

Sirius tried not to frown at Fleur's behavior - it was rather rude of her to switch to her native tongue to speak with her friend when there were people at the table who couldn't understand her. He had heard her speak rather excellent English when she was talking to her sister, so he was certain she knew the language.

"That was a few years ago," Stephanie waved her hand, "we were just children then, I'm sure he's grown out of it by now - do you guys know where Archie is right now?" she switched back to English. "I wouldn't mind seeing him and introducing him to my friends."

"Where is this Archades you speak so much about?" Fleur changed the subject and asked her friend in French. "The way you speak of him would say that he'd be rather happy to see you, no?" she frowned. "He mustn't be too enthusiastic if he has yet to greet you. I thought you said he liked you, did he not?"

Sirius tried not to frown at Fleur's behavior - it was rather rude of her to switch to her native tongue to speak with her friend when there were people at the table who couldn't understand her. He had heard her speak rather excellent English when she was talking to her sister, so he was certain she knew the language.

"That was a couple of years ago," Stephanie waved her hand, "we were just children then, I'm sure he's grown out of it by now - do you guys know where Archie is right now?" she switched back to English. "I wouldn't mind seeing him and introducing him to my friends."

Cedric exchanged a quick worried glance Sirius, but the man just shrugged his shoulders. "Archie is in Harry's room, I think," Cedric said amicably, "he was doing some research, I'm not exactly sure of the details, but he's kept himself rather busy ever since coming back from school."

"Do you mind if we go up to see him?" she asked, sounding hopeful. Cedric figured that even though she had a boyfriend, Stephanie still must have missed Archie, they were best friends growing up, after all.

"I won't mind, Archie won't mind," he didn't add the "I think" at the end of that merely because he didn't think it proper. "I'm not sure if Harry would be too pleased though, he doesn't like people going in his room. He gave Archie explicit permission to do so before he left for the arena."

"Please," Fleur scoffed, her English may be excellent but she still had a very strong French accent . " 'e is just a regular boy, I very much doubt zat his room is anything ozzer than a cow sty," she commented reproachfully.

Sirius resisted the urge to ask her to say "honourable", knowing that it wouldn't win him any favors with the girl. Normally, he wouldn't much care, but this was Remus' place and he'd probably get pissed if he annoyed potential customers - especially ones that are guests of Archie's.

"If you say so," Cedric grinned slightly - the girl was in for a rude awakening. "Just knock loudly on Harry's door, Archie may not hear you otherwise."

Gabrielle tugged on her sister's sleeve and started to converse with her in French, she seemed to be asking a favor of the girl because the dreaded puppy-dog eyes came into play.

Fleur sighed irritably, "Do you mind if Gabrielle remains 'ere with Jacques?" she frowned, "She wants to know more about 'arry Potter she so admires."

"No problem," Sirius gave a charming smile "anything for adoring little fans of my adorable Godson!"

"Sirius," Cedric pinched the bridge of his nose, "That sounded really gay."

Jacques seemed to protest to having to babysit Gabrielle, but one sharp glare from Fleur shut him up real quick.

Stephanie, remembering where Harry's room was located from past experiences, led Fleur up the stairs and to the first door on the right.

"I don't see why you're so eager to see him," Fleur said with a frown, "it's obvious from what you've told me that the boy was very much in love with you when you were both younger, I very much doubt that's changed from what you've told me about him."

"Don't be silly Fleur," Stephanie chided, "we haven't actually seen each other in years, he should know by now that any possible relationship we could have had is just out of the question."

Fleur didn't get to respond as someone finally opened the door in response to their knocking. Objectively, Fleur had to admit that the boy was rather cute, and not that she'd ever tell Stephanie, but she definitely thought he was better looking that Jacques. The only problem was that the boy - who she assumed was Archie - had heavy dark rings around his eyes; it looked like he hadn't slept in ages.

"Stephanie?" he said with surprise in his voice, "what are you doing here?"

Stephanie frowned, "You invited us, remember?" she didn't sound too happy by his greeting. "Or did you forget already?"

"No, I mean here, in Harry's room, you know how he is about people going through his stuff," Archie looked to the blond girl standing beside his childhood friend. "You must be Fleur, it's nice to meet you, thanks for taking care of Stephanie over there while we couldn't."

His smile was infectious, and despite her better judgment, Fleur found herself returning it. "Eet is no problem, you must be this Archie I 'ave 'eard so much about," she held out her hand to him and Archie took it before placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles.

Stephanie was surprised with how Fleur greeted Archie. It wasn't that the girl was rude to everyone, she was just usually a little cold and condescending to people she hadn't met yet. Archie must have made a good impression. What surprised her more however was that Archie didn't seem to be affected by Fleur's Veela aura in the slightest!

"Um, do you want to come in?" Archie asked while scratching the back of his head before smiling apologetically. "I can't let you go in Harry's study or his bedroom - he'd castrate me - but you can come into the main room here," he opened the door properly allowing the girls entrance.

Fleur was about to roll her eyes at the mention of a study and a bedroom separate from the room. The Inn itself may have been of better standard and style than she had expected, but it was nothing compared to Beauxbatons. Englishmen just knew nothing of style.

So imagine her surprise when Archie opened the door to reveal a Victorian style room that was beautifully decorated with expensive furniture and, to her everlasting shock, impeccably clean.

"This room is a lot nicer than the study now anyways, I've been rather busy in there for the past few weeks, it's rather messy," Archie replied sheepishly. "Let me just clean up and I'll be with you real quick."

As Archie pushed the door of the study wide open so he could clean up after himself, Fleur and Stephanie got a good look of what lay inside. Hundreds of books were lining the walls while several dozen lay strewn about across the floor, most of them gathered around a cauldron that Archie seemed to be in the middle of using. That was all they got to see however before the door swung close again.

The two girls took a seat each by the cackling fire, taking comfort in the warmth it provided despite the fact that it was a rather warm day outside.

"This Archie is really nice. And you don't like Archie like that?" Fleur asked doubtfully, "He looks much cuter than Jacques, and, as loathe as I am to admit it, he is much more charming."

"Archie's like my brother," Stephanie said unconvincingly, "Can we not talk about my love life? It's not like you are the perfect saint, you had three boyfriends last year!"

"They were all buffoons," Fleur said scathingly, "Easy on the eyes but completely idiotic or they only had one thing on their mind, and that was to get in my panties."

Their conversation was interrupted when Archie re-entered the room, looking slightly more refreshed if a little hurried, "Sorry for the wait," Fleur noticed he didn't seem as cheery as he did before. She was an expert at reading people's emotions, in fact, she prided herself on the skill - however, this boy's behavior was confusing her. What could have possibly happened in the short time apart that could dampen his mood further?

"That's fine," Stephanie smiled as she gave Archie a hug. Fleur didn't miss the boy stiffen slightly before awkwardly returning it and wondered if her friend was truly so naive, or if it was a selective blindness. "Is that your OWL results?" she asked as she pointed to an unopened envelope on the table between them, "why haven't you opened them?"

Archie shrugged, "I was busy and I don't much care to be honest," he grinned. "I don't want to sound arrogant, but I know I passed, I don't really care by how much," the girls didn't need to know that he was already on his way to becoming well off with his business well underway.

"Can I open it?" Stephanie asked with childlike excitement, she looked like a kid on Christmas. Archie chuckled and gave her a shrug. "Knock yourself out."

She ripped open the envelope and gasped at what she saw. His marks were impressive. He also did get the High Distinction in Potions, but somehow, Stephanie knew he would anyway.

"That good?" Archie grinned, "The OWLs were ridiculously easy, I don't take much pride in acing them to be honest," he mumbled as he read through his mark, "oh, awesome, I get my last two years of school paid for because of the High Distinction!"

"You don't sound too excited about zee 'igh Distinction," Fleur pointed out, "Does it not surprise you to be the top student out of thousands in the subject?"

Archie just shrugged, not knowing how to answer that question without coming off as a complete dick. He wondered how Harry did it while not caring about what people thought all the time.

"Did Harry's scores come too?" Archie asked Stephanie who filled him in on Harry's scores.

"Humph, smartass," Archie grumbled good naturedly referring to Harry, "So, where's this boyfriend of yours - I thought he was coming, as well as her kid sister?"

Stephanie suddenly felt very awkward as she heard Archie's tone and couldn't tell why, Fleur had to fight the urge to slap herself in the face at her friend's behavior. "He's downstairs watching little Gabby while we came up here to check up on you."

"I see," Archie mumbled, "well, are you happy?" Archie looked deep into her eyes as he asked this, slightly unnerving her, "does he treat you well?"

"Err," she didn't know how to answer immediately, "yeah, yes he does. He's helped me a lot with adjusting with the course work at Beauxbatons and he's really nice."

Archie continued to look into her eyes for a few more moments before smiling. "As long as you're happy, that's all I can ask for."

Stephanie was surprised by the response, unknowingly expecting him to say something completely different. Fleur however, nodded to herself as she reclined against the comfortable chair with her arms crossed as if something had just been proven to her.

"So," Archie grinned, "Tell me about Beauxbatons, it can't be worse than Hogwarts."

The three talked for several hours that night before going their separate ways, two of them catching up while the third was more than happy to provide the embarrassing details when necessary.

"You love 'er."

If Archie was surprised that someone had snuck up on him in his room and interrupted his brewing, he didn't show it.

"That's not exactly a secret," Archie didn't bother looking up at the girl behind him, "can I help you with something?"

Fleur's beautiful features were marred with a frown for a moment as she sat atop the unoccupied desk before continuing. "Why do you not try to win 'er back then?" she said with confusion, "if you love 'er so much."

Archie sprinkled the next ingredient into the cauldron carefully before answering. "As long as she's happy, I don't care," he shrugged. "That Jacques seems like an okay guy, if Stephanie likes him, who am I to ruin that?"

Fleur slammed her hands on the desk she was sitting on and cursed loudly in French, Archie resisted the urge to snort in amusement. "You are making no sense and are being completely illogical!"

"Is that right?" Archie chuckled softly, "How so?"

"Eet is obvious that you are in love with 'er, you practically have it written all over your face whenever you look at 'er," she argued, "I've 'eard the stories of your antics when you were younger and I find it 'ard to believe that you are zee same person I 'ave 'eard about."

Archie shrugged. "I'm not going to cry and beg her to take me because she chose somebody else."

"Zat does not count when she didn't think you an option to begin with!"

"Why do you care so much?" Archie frowned. "From what Stephanie told me about you, you're hardly the person to care about such things, especially when it concerns "silly leetle boys" like myself."

"Stephanie eez my best and only friend," Fleur said angrily. "That Jacques eez not good enough for her!"

"Shouldn't that be for Stephanie to decide?" Archie asked with concern.

"Zat girl is so blind zat she 'as no clue what she wants," Fleur argued heatedly. "She felt lonely and in need of companionship at Beauxbatons, so she latched onto zee first boy zat offered to provide it for 'er."

"And you think I'm the right person for her?" Archie said with amusement. "I don't know whether to be insulted for being used as an alternative to Jacques or flattered that you'd think so," he shrugged. "It doesn't matter though, I'm not going to ruin her current relationship because of what I want."

"So you admit you want 'er," Fleur said triumphantly, "Then why not claim 'er for yourself?"

"Because she's not an object to be claimed!" Archie spat angrily at her, but he was confused when he saw her victorious grin.

"Good answer, unfortunately it eez not zee one Jacques would 'ave given."

"Why do you keep comparing me to him?" Archie asked, "Has he not been good to her? Is she unhappy? Did she lie to me?"

"No," Fleur shrugged, "but 'e is not the one she loves."

"She told you otherwise?" Archie suddenly sounded interested in the conversation.

"No," she relented, "but she does not 'ave to, I can see it in 'er eyes."

Archie rolled his eyes in annoyance, "When you have something a little more concrete, like words, then come see me."

"You act like you don't even care for 'er happiness!"

Archie rounded on her angrily "Her happiness is the only thing I do care about," he almost snarled at her, "Don't ever presume I don't care about her feelings, she's obviously pleased with the way things are at the moment or she wouldn't be sticking her tongue down his throat!"

Fleur looked at him in stunned silence, trying to comprehend what Archie had just said to her. Comprehension suddenly dawned on her features, "You 'eard us talking yesterday," she murmured, "You can speak French? Stephanie never said this."

"That is because she doesn't know," Archie replied in near-perfect French, though his accent was still off. "I invented a potion that temporarily helps with information retention so I could learn it," he smiled bitterly, "for her actually, it was my way of showing my support to her."

"You're jealous," she smiled victoriously - she did not expect his reaction to that statement though.

* * *

A few extra things:-

Location of Sirius's home is Grimmauld place that is where the action is happening

Remus is a professor in America. More on that later

Fleur... why does she watch the match on Harry's ticket. Why does she watch it at all? Why does she want anything to do with Harry Potter after that embarrassment? All will be revealed.

This chapter is confusing, I know. Nowhere near my best. I'll try harder next time but I need reviews, thrive on 'em


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